Petersburg’s hopes for a casino referendum have been officially dealt to the 2024 Virginia General Assembly, and unlike previous attempts, they come to the table with some very influential support and possibly some other legislation to help push it to the pay window.
While Senate Bill 628 does not specifically state that Petersburg would replace Richmond as the fifth casino host city, it amends requirements for the host city that would fit Petersburg. The legislation removes a minimum 200,000-population stipulation, and drops the rate floor for tax-exempted real-estate property in 2017 and poverty rate in 2019.
It also adds a requirement that the host city had an unemployment rate of at least 13% in 2020 according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
