The mayor supports the casino proposition.

Mayor Levar Stoney shakes hands at the Second Street Festival in early October.

With polls showing that the two sides are neck and neck - and Urban One contending with a late-breaking scandal - what would a casino mean for Richmond? Now, as was the case two years ago, race is playing a significant role in the politics of this decision. The problem? Some academics say that casinos rarely deliver the tax revenues and jobs that they promise and can lead to a rise in addiction, crime and bankruptcy in the localities they enter.

In both the previous vote and polling from this year, the residents near the casino site have overwhelmingly supported it.

The city says it will use that revenue to support child care, education, and other initiatives. Proponents say a casino will bring tax revenue and jobs to a part of Richmond that desperately needs them. As of Halloween, Urban One was closing in on $10 million in campaign spending, nearly four times the amount spent two years ago. Now, in partnership with Churchill Downs, Urban One is attempting a second bite at the apple with its proposed $562 million Richmond Grand Resort & Casino (for brevity, the casino developers will be referred to as Urban One in this story). Two years ago, Richmond narrowly voted against allowing Black-owned multimedia conglomerate Urban One to build a casino in an economically depressed area of the city’s Southside. Since the General Assembly passed legislation in 2020 for specified localities to vote on whether to have casinos, four have been approved: Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth. Regardless, this “mini casino,” as state legislators have called it, gives Richmonders a taste of what could be in store for the city. Rosie’s owner, racing and gambling conglomerate Churchill Downs, maintains that this, somehow, is not gambling. It’s Friday night at Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Southside, and everyone is hoping to strike it big. Over the gamblers’ shoulders you can see how much they have left on their gaming cards on the bottom left of their screens: $20. Row after row, the colorful machines light up as gamblers try their luck.īoasting names like China Gold, Quick Spin and Queenie, these penny, ten-cent and dollar slot-like machines have their operators entranced nearly every seat is filled.

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