The City of Petersburg, Virginia is planning to construct a $1.4 billion casino, hotel, and entertainment district called ‘Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia’.
The project, which needs legislative approval to reassign the unused Richmond casino license to Petersburg, will span 4 million square feet and include the casino, 500 hotel rooms, restaurants, entertainment venues, 600,000 square feet of retail space, and 1,300 residential units.
The construction will be completed in phases, with Phase 1 consisting of the construction of the Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia. The casino will have 2,000 slots, 60 table games, a poker room, and a sportsbook, while the hotel will have 200 guest rooms with 20 suites, a pool, and a fitness center. The entertainment center will feature live entertainment, concerts, meetings, and conventions, and there will be more than a dozen dining and entertainment venues.
Senator Joe Morrissey said:
It is transformational for Petersburg, for central Virginia and I think for Virginia it is the best, most fabulous casino of all that are out there
In December 2022, the Petersburg City Council formed an agreement with The Cordish Companies to build the Live! Casino and Hotel Virginia and the entertainment district in the Wagner Road area off the I-95 Exit. In October 2022, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) declared Petersburg a “suitable” city for the Richmond casino license, with estimated first-year operating revenues of $204 million and the creation of 1,300 permanent jobs.
The Cordish Companies, which own and operate Live! Casino brands in Maryland, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh, was selected by Petersburg officials to develop a proposal for the city. In 2021, The Cordish Companies had proposed building a Live! Casino & Hotel in Richmond, but lost the bid to Urban One. Their proposal for Richmond included a $600 million casino resort with a 250,000-square-foot casino, a 300-room hotel, and a 4,000-seat event center.
The state of Virginia currently has just 11 land-based casinos.
Ciaran has a decade of experience writing for some of the biggest names in the eSports, poker, and casino industries including GamblingIndustryNews.com, CasinoNewsUSA.com & more.
