Petersburg creates advisory board to recommend casino benefit fund spending

Petersburg, Virginia now has a seven-member Local Advisory Board that will examine funding requests drawn from the benefit payments the city gets from Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia and pass its recommendations on to City Council. Appointments to the panel were made public by the city together with The Cordish Companies, which serves as co-developer and operator of the Petersburg casino, in a joint announcement dated 23 October.

Serving on the panel are Rob Norton, who leads the Cordish Gaming Group as president; Vice Mayor Darrin Hill of Petersburg; State Sen. Lashrecse Aird, D-Henrico County; Del. Kimberly Pope Adams, D-Dinwiddie County; Annie Mickens, a former Petersburg mayor and councilor; Sam Rhue, who chairs the Petersburg EDA; and Richard Taylor, a former EDA member involved in various community events. Taken together, the group contains three lawmakers from the local and state level, a onetime mayor of the city, the EDA's chair, a former member of that authority and the executive who heads gaming operations for the casino's co-developer.

The money the board will review traces back to the deal that located the casino in Petersburg. That deal commits the city to reserving 5% of the benefit payment it gets from Cordish every year. Such funds go beyond the city's usual portion of casino tax revenue and may be directed to education, economic development, housing revitalization or local nonprofits, among other priorities. Cordish's 2024 agreement with the city provides for a total of $16 million paid out across the next 10 years. A separate one-time payment of $15 million from Cordish arrived when the temporary casino began operating in January.

Petersburg now has a pair of casino-related advisory panels, since this Local Advisory Board follows an earlier one. A citizens' board was set up by the city as well, and it too will weigh in on spending casino revenues.

Mayor Sam Parham, in the joint statement, recalled that residents and businesses were told the destination resort and casino would give the city a major economic boost, and he said the board now offers a clear route to fulfilling that pledge. Investments the board recommends, he said, will benefit young people, seniors and residents for years ahead. Norton, for his part, said the project is set to deliver thousands of new jobs and millions in new tax revenue, and that Petersburg will additionally get funding the board and City Council can direct toward key city programs and services that meet varied local needs.

Since opening, the temporary casino has brought in over $105 million in adjusted gross revenue along with more than $16 million in state and local tax revenue. The 75,000-square-foot venue began operating on 22 January and is to stay open until the permanent resort is finished by December 2027. The $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia resort and entertainment development is being built off Wagner Road in southern Petersburg. Expectations for the project's first 10 years include roughly $240 million in revenue for the city and thousands of construction and permanent jobs in the region. Virginia counts five casino host cities, and Petersburg is among them alongside Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth.