Richmond advocates for a casino gained a boost when talks between house and senate negotiators over an amended state budget collapsed last week, although public school and mental health advocates were left disappointed.
Essentially, the breakdown of negotiations appears to have ensured that the general assembly would not impose any barrier to the state’s capital city holding a second vote on hosting a $560 million casino-resort in South Side.
Concern had emerged that language might be inserted in the amended budget to block the vote in the november general election, just as the legislature had in crafting the 2022-2024 budget.
Richmond voters narrowly rejected the casino development in a 2021 vote, but Mayor Levar M. Stoney and City Council have pushed for a re-vote.
