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After voters in Richmond, Virginia rejected a plan for a casino a second time last year, plans quickly shifted to the nearby city of Petersburg. The city council approved a potential casino operator last week in a no-bid process that has raised eyebrows and is likely to bring a lawsuit against the city.
The city has named the Cordish Companies as the potential casino operator. The hospitality, gaming, and real estate company is based in Baltimore, Maryland, and runs the Live! brand of casino and entertainment venues around the country.
Selecting the company hasn’t come without controversy, however, and the Unite Here Local 25 has promised to sue, arguing that the council violated the state’s freedom of information law by selecting the casino partner behind closed doors.
“The City of Petersburg’s actions show a shocking disregard for the law and democratic norms,” union political director Sam Epps said. “Petersburg had begun a competitive RFP (request for proposal) process that should have proceeded with transparency and fairness. Instead, city council apparently abused a closed session to discuss the selection of the casino operator.”
I*ssues Swirl Around Casino Announcement*
Virginia legalized casinos in 2020, but local voter approval is required. Residents in Bristol, Danville, Portsmouth, and Norfolk approved casino plans in 2020. Voters in Petersburg are now set to take to the polls to decide on the issue in November.
City leaders initially announced a bidding process for a potential partner, with Bally’s, Cordish, Penn Entertainment, Rush Street Gaming, and Warrenton Group/Delaware North all vying for the job at an April 14 meeting.
The council then announced a no-bid process awarding the partnership to Cordish. Discrepancies later surfaced that Bally’s had initially been accepted by the city manager and that pressure from the general assembly resulted in naming Cordish as the partner.
The city later announced the cancellation of the bidding process and noted: “The letter of intent signed by the manager was never formally authorized by the city council; was not executed freely and voluntarily; and was not delivered to Bally’s but instead was signed and returned to the sender in response to a demand as a condition of allowing SB 628 to proceed.”
The law allowing for a Petersburg casino doesn’t actually require a bidding process and Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham said the council was pressured by the legislature to choose Cordish. Along with the union, state leaders have also been critical of the process and where the issue goes now remains to be seen.
“The city’s actions demonstrate the ongoing struggle within the city’s governance in the pursuit of what the citizens of Petersburg truly deserve, State Sen. Laschrecse Aird (D-Petersburg) said, “which is an economic development project that they have a say in and truly benefits all citizens.”