Petersburg Casino

Submitted by SwanOverSunshine t3_10nj62i in rva

https://www.virginiabusiness.com/article/petersburg-casino-bill-moves-to-senate-committee/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

What really gets me is that our city council members are spending a LOT of their limited time campaigning for something their voters explicitly rejected. We have so many issues in our city, and they’re wasting their (our?) time in working on something their voters don’t want. Can’t wait until the next election and hope some new people run who actually care about democracy and their voters! Two of the city council people who spoke against the Petersburg casino (Jones and Newbille) don’t even live in the city. Maintaining a fake address in the city just for political purposes shouldn’t be legal. You should have to show that your family, pets, are also at this address and that you spend most nights there. Maybe we can add this to the revamped city charter.

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dalhectar t1_j694aq2 wrote

Didn't the council people like Trammell who spoke to keep the door open for Richmond come from districts that on net supported the stadium?

Their voters WANT a Southside casino.

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[deleted] t1_j6acf41 wrote

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ManBMitt t1_j6amx83 wrote

It’s white liberals who think that black people are “tricked” into voting against their best interests. Good thing we have all these white Richmonders who vote in large enough numbers to save black Richmonders from themselves! /s

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Diet_Coke t1_j6atau1 wrote

Casinos are an inherently extractive industry, the entire business model is you go in with money and hope you leave with money. There's no need for scare quotes. The casino group put out pie in the sky projections and if you don't believe them you're somehow a racist? Get real doofus.

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[deleted] t1_j6audul wrote

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Diet_Coke t1_j6av52b wrote

Is theater addiction a recognized disorder?

Maybe we can open up a subsidized crack house in your neighborhood, same business model.

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[deleted] t1_j6aw6ao wrote

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Diet_Coke t1_j6awa47 wrote

ReDuCtIvE tAkE

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[deleted] t1_j6awgg7 wrote

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Diet_Coke t1_j6awlzw wrote

Haha, sure Mr "If you voted against a casino you're a racist" 🙄

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[deleted] t1_j6awtrq wrote

[deleted]

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Diet_Coke t1_j6ax3ys wrote

You have no argument so you just attempt to be rude enough that you'll have the last word. What a surprise, you're full of shit just like every other casino proponent.

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[deleted] t1_j6ayfct wrote

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Diet_Coke t1_j6azvgj wrote

You have yet to make a single post that doesn't lean on one logical fallacy or another. I noticed you changed tack pretty quick when you realized that theater companies aren't organized specifically to exploit some people's neurochemistry through what we call gambling addiction. Almost like your entire position is bullshit, "the people want gambling addictions so we should let them have it". This whole exercise in you rubbing weiners with the other poster began with a strawman argument.

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FARTBOSS420 t1_j6byfhq wrote

Joe Morrissey's Bar and Casino for the Disbarred. Lol.

Here's the shit behind the paywall:

> A Virginia State Senate bill that would allow Petersburg residents to vote on allowing a casino in their city is still in play, following a 7-2 vote by the Senate gaming subcommittee Thursday. The bill will progress to a General Laws and Technology committee vote Wednesday.

The bill from Sen. Joe Morrissey, D-Richmond, adds Petersburg to the list of cities eligible to host a casino in the state, and it effectively prevents Richmond from holding a second casino referendum vote this fall, following a Richmond casino referendum’s 2021 defeat. In an interview with Virginia Business in November 2022, Morrissey said a proposed Petersburg casino operated by Maryland-based The Cordish Cos. could bring up to 1,800 jobs to the city, as well as multiuse development of the surrounding 90 acres. According to news reports, the project would involve $1.4 billion in investments over the next 15 years.

Speaking Thursday evening, Morrissey, whose district includes Petersburg, promised music performers like Bruce Springsteen, Snoop Dogg and Carrie Underwood would play the Petersburg casino, which he said would create 1,700 jobs with an average salary of $60,000 in the first phase of the project, including the casino, a hotel and parking garage. He predicted the casino would ultimately create 10,000 jobs, both direct and indirect hires, within a decade of its completion.

Although the Petersburg City Council entered into an agreement with Cordish to develop a casino, Petersburg residents would still need to vote in favor of the referendum for the casino to be built, according to state law, and Morrissey’s bill must pass the General Assembly and be signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin for Petersburg to be able to place a referendum on ballots this fall. When the state legalized commercial casinos in 2020, it limited the options for casinos to one facility apiece in five economically disadvantaged cities — Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond.

Cordish, which operates Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casinos in Hollywood and Tampa, Florida, and developed and operates Live! Casino & Hotel resorts in Maryland and Pennsylvania, has said it is not interested in building a casino in Petersburg if Richmond gets a green light this fall from voters to build a casino.

Petersburg city officials spoke in favor of the bill. “We just believe the time is now,” said City Manager John “March” Altman Jr., for what he described as a “once-in-a-lifetime economic opportunity.”

Cordish’s chief operating officer, Zed Smith, said his company’s officers “are urbanists at heart. Petersburg has struggled for many, many years. This is an opportunity. It gives the citizens of Petersburg the opportunity to move the needle in their own city.”

However, proponents of a Richmond casino, including Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, oppose Morrissey’s bill because it would prohibit Richmond from holding a second local referendum on the same question “until the other eligible host city” — Petersburg — “has had a reasonable opportunity.”

Four Richmond City Council members and the city’s economic development director, Leonard Sledge, spoke against the bill. Most passionately opposed was council member Reva Trammell, who represents the South Side district where the proposed $565 million ONE Casino + Resort was to be built if its November 2021 referendum had passed.

Trammell said that her district is “struggling. Sen. Morrissey should know that. … I represent mostly brown and Black [people] in my district. … I’m out there taking them food and clothes. We don’t have internet in our house. We don’t have computers. We can’t afford them. What do we do? How do we survive? How do we send our children to school when they don’t have shoes to put on their feet? It breaks my heart. I’m just asking you please, please, give us one more chance.”

A few other speakers opposed the bill for other reasons, including Petersburg resident Lafayette Jefferson, a local NAACP leader who Morrissey had sharp words with last year in an incident at the state Capitol. Morrissey has admitted saying “I’ll rip your heart out of your chest” to Jefferson during an argument.

Jefferson said Thursday that Morrissey’s promise of an average $60,000 salary was “manipulation,” because it didn’t take into account taxes and other deductions. “The take-home [money] will be a lot less.” He also said that Petersburg’s process in choosing Cordish was not transparent, because there was not a public request for proposals. Instead, the city hired a third-party consultant to vet seven companies. Morrissey said later that the process is allowed under current state law, and in Bristol, Portsmouth and Norfolk, city council members chose their casino operators without public input.

Voters in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth passed casino referendums by wide margins in 2020. Three permanent casinos are now under construction, and Rivers Casino Portsmouth, the state’s first permanent casino, opened Jan. 23.

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Temporary_Train_3372 t1_j693mqe wrote

I’m with you. Newbille is a genuinely committed person though (at least as committed as a politician can be). They tried dangling the property tax decrease in front of people last year and then jacked rates up to insane levels this year. All of these people somehow stand to profit from the casino (think Dwight Jones and the “shockoe stadium) in someway. I would bet my house on it.

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sleevieb t1_j6c1kqx wrote

Is newbille dedicated because she lived in henrico, because she won a special election to get in the board, or because she married a man that embezzled $480,000 from the city?

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Temporary_Train_3372 t1_j6dbnwx wrote

No she’s committed because she will actually respond to me when I reach out. I assume politicians have family who have benefited in some way (likely illegally and certainly immorally). I guess you and I have a different expectation. I expect 98% of politicians to be terrible, power/money hungry people who seek to exploit political office for their personal gain. My vote is all about who I think is the least terrible.

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icecreamfist t1_j6be79l wrote

No she is not, but fortunately her assistant is though.

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Djlewzer t1_j6cr0t8 wrote

Newbille doesn’t live in the city? I don’t doubt it, but how do you know?

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groundcontrol3 t1_j69d1w5 wrote

The real question is why are you so against a casino in either Richmond or Petersburg? It's free money for either city and gives residents a legit way to gamble which is sorely lacking without having to travel up to Maryland. Is it some weird puritanical mindset you have or is it that you know better how people should and shouldn't spend their money?

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SwanOverSunshine OP t1_j69e5vx wrote

It’s trashy and hurts the poor the most. The gambling market is over saturated at this point, so all of their big economic and job projections are WAY overstated. It will just cannibalize entertainment dollars from other places, so who knows if it will actually bring that much extra city money? I also object to some random people from Maryland trying to change our city in such a big way - they have no roots here. Richmond is awesome because of our local, homegrown vibe. I also really hate that the casino people have bought the city council and mayor. It was really amazing that we were able to vote this down in the face of all that money spent by the casino to force their agenda down our throats. I also really don’t like that the casino people turned it into a racial issue (when it wasn’t going their way). Very divisive. A lot of the black community was against it too - they didn’t need to make it racial, but they did because they’re sleazy.

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SwanOverSunshine OP t1_j69echc wrote

I also don’t have an opinion on what happens in Petersburg. That’s for them to decide, and I don’t have a good grasp on Petersburg’s needs.

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unarj t1_j69ehhi wrote

guess that 2mil they spent on trying to push this shit through worked on some folks. "free money" what a joke.

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groundcontrol3 t1_j69ggev wrote

In what way is tax money for the city with 0 expenses from the city not free money?

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unarj t1_j69gwhg wrote

the only purpose of an establishment like a casino is to hoover up money, not dole it out. if it's such an obvious payout why did they have to buy their way to the table?

going by your logic any business is free money for the city.

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dalhectar t1_j6aix2s wrote

Well, if you're not familiar- most businesses don't have to pay exorbitant licenses to operate. Casinos are alone in that category. Casinos are also taxed at a much higher rate than every other business. If other businesses had to pay 30% of gross revenue (not profit, revenue) to the state/locality, they would never open.

Meanwhile some businesses like Stone Brewery or say the Redskins, the City has to pay them to come here.

End of the day the City voted no, narrowly but still no. And now Petersburg can decide if it wants a predatory business that pays high taxes.

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unarj t1_j6aojje wrote

> End of the day the City voted no, narrowly but still no.

and yet here we are still talking about and it's still alive in legislature. agreed that Petersburg should do whatever is best for them regardless.

all of those licensing fees go to the state, don't they? Richmond would benefit only marginally. predatory business gobbling millions throwing back a pittance sounds like a great bargain.

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dalhectar t1_j6aunh8 wrote

No. According to § 58.1-4124 a casino pays 18%-30% gross revenue to the state, which the state then gives 6%-8% gross revenue to the host locality (33%-26% of the collected tax).

A typical restaurant which pays 0.36% gross for it's business license. Casinos pay localities 16%-22x more than other businesses like restaurants.

So not a pittance.

Richmond's not getting it. Getting that 8% is why Petersburg officials want it.

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unarj t1_j6dveqm wrote

good info, thanks. balanced against what it takes away from the local economy I would still consider it a loss. hopefully we can put this all to bed soon and maybe focus on things that actually help Richmonders (Richmonites? Richmonians?).

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