That’s what Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins said the chances are to land a new casino in Richmond, VA. Urban One is part of a group hoping to build a new casino in Richmond. Political horse-trading is now part of the equation which is never a good thing.
Liggins is hoping to get the One Casino + Resort proposal on a second ballot this November after the project was shot down in a referendum last November. By a margin of just under 3%, voters rejected the One Casino + Resort referendum. Five Virginia cities voted on casino referendums; Richmond was the only one to not pass.
Since the referendum, the Richmond City Council voted 8-1 to put the casino up for a second vote. A judge will now decide if that vote will stand up. However, there’s also an effort in the Virginia State Assembly and House to block the referendum from happening in 2022 and move it into 2023. The reason some lawmakers would like to do that is so they can also try to move the gaming license from Richmond, 24 miles up I-95, to Petersburg.
On Thursday Liggins said there are a lot of moving parts with the project. He believes there may be some lawmakers willing to trade votes for other projects in exchange for the gaming license moving to Petersburg. He said the company is working hard to get the referendum on the ballot in 2022. If not they will have to decide if they want to continue fighting the casino battle for another 18 months.
