The owner of Colonial Downs and Rosie’s Gaming Emporium has drawn criticism from a Henrico supervisor who said the company circumvented an update to zoning rules by submitting plans for a gambling facility in the county before the new rules could take effect.
Churchill Downs Inc., which owns the New Kent County racetrack and the seven Rosie’s off-track horse-betting parlors across Virginia, filed plans last month to convert part of the Staples Mill Shopping Center into a casino-like parlor with 175 “historical horse racing” game machines, along with a restaurant and bar.
The facility is set to fill a nearly 25,000-square-foot space between an Virginia ABC store and Subway restaurant at the western end of the shopping center’s main building at Staples Mill Road and Glenside Drive.
