OPINION: In Virginia, Richmond voters had their shot at a casino. Let Petersburg have theirs.

OPINION: In Virginia, Richmond voters had their shot at a casino. Let Petersburg have theirs.

Article brief provided by Richmond Times-Dispatch
  • Michael Paul Williams, Richmond Times-Dispatch
June 8, 2022 9:46 PM
  • Michael Paul Williams, Richmond Times-Dispatch

It’s sad that so many hopes and dreams in Richmond and Petersburg are invested in a proposed casino, a project inherently rife with moral and economic ambiguity. Or that the commonwealth of Virginia, as so often seems to be the case, has pitted locality against locality.

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But that’s where we are.

Petersburg officials and state Sen. Joe Morrissey were crowing [last] Thursday over a state budget provision barring Richmond from holding another casino referendum this November after voters there rejected plans for the nearly $600 million One Casino and Resort last November.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and the Urban One Inc. media conglomerate are seeking a path forward on a second casino vote, which had been OK’d by a Richmond Circuit Court order and pre-certified by the Virginia Lottery.