Residents of Petersburg, Va., overwhelmingly voted for a casino referendum that will bring a $1.4 billion Live! Casino Resort to the area. The 80% vote was the highest support for a casino referendum in Virginia history.
Included in the plans is a 15-table poker room to go along with the 46 live-action tales and 1,600 slot machines.
NFL Pro football Hall-of-Famer Bruce Smith partnered with The Cordish Companies, the owners of Live! Casinos, as the codeveloped and was the face of the referendum push in Petersburg.
“We are deeply gratified by the community’s affirmation of this project and very hopeful about the meaningful impact it will have on the city’s future,” said Smith. “The casino will not only create good-paying jobs for our residents but will also attract visitors statewide and beyond, stimulating local businesses and in turn producing an overall ripple effect of economic growth.”
Construction will begin as soon as the vote is certified.
The complex will include more than 400,000 square feet of gaming, hotel, and dining space, 35,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, a 200-room hotel featuring 20 suites, resort pool and fitness center, high limit slot and table areas and a sportsbook, a 3,000-seat state-of-the-art entertainment venue for top talent from across Virginia and the greater region, and eight food and entertainment options, including three spaces that will be reserved for local Petersburg restauranteurs and businesses.
Phase one of the casino is expected to open in early 2026.
Fourth casino for Virginia
In April of 2020, Virginia lawmakers voted to allow up to five casinos in its Commonwealth, as long as the local population votes to approve them.
So far, voters in four out of the five cities that put it to a vote approved the casino referendums in the cities of Danville, Bristol, Portsmouth (just north of Norfolk), and now Petersburg.
The residents of Richmond rejected the casino referendum twice — most recently last year. After Richmond residents voted no a second time, state legislators voted unanimously to remove the city from the original list of five.
Rivers Casino Portsmouth is the only one that spreads poker by running a 24-table room 9 a.m. to 4 a.m.
Live! Casino has made poker one of its cornerstone at its casinos.
This will be the entertainment company’s fourth Live! branded casino, joining Live! Casino Maryland (Baltimore), Live! Casino in Philadelphia, and Live! Casino Pittsburgh (which is actually located about 30 miles west of the city).
All of them have poker rooms that run daily tournaments, as well as a few larger events a year that have several starting flights in each casino, with the championship taking place in either Philly or Baltimore.
Count on the poker room in Petersburg to be part of that network.
The Live! brand casinos are part of a larger portfolio of entertainment complexes that includes the Live! brandname in places like Texas, St. Louis, and Kentucky.
