Virginia’s First Casino Project Gets Approved Unanimously

Article by : Helen Dec 23, 2020

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Updated: Mar 23, 2023

Officials at Hard Rock International (HRI) celebrate the recent approval of its planned $400 million casino and hotel project. The casino venture is poised to become the first legalized gaming operation in Virginia, with up to four more planned in other cities.

The Bristol, Virginia, City Council on Dec. 3 removed one of the final roadblocks to eventual casino development by unanimously approving certification of HR Bristol LLC as the preferred gaming operator of the proposed Hard Rock Hotel & Casino development. That one simple step makes it possible to move forward with efforts to develop a permanent casino.

HRI intends to apply for a Virginia gaming license immediately after the commonwealth develops its initial gaming regulations to regulate its newly birthed casino industry. The Virginia Lottery Board would oversee the casino gaming application process.

If the application is approved, HRI likely will open a temporary facility in the same location while going forward with developing the rest of the property. That would not happen before 2022, the state’s lottery director says. Virginia Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall recently told members of the Virginia House Appropriations Committee that the Lottery likely would not have gaming regulations finalized before April 2022. Without such regulations, no legal gaming operations can exist in Virginia.

Hall says Lottery officials are working vigorously to get enabling regulations in place. Virginia’s gaming laws allow for temporary casino operations after the applicant obtains a state gaming license, and all background checks come back clean. HRI CEO Jim Allen has said the company is considering a temporary casino but has not finalized plans.

Development plans call for a hotel with between 300 and 600 rooms, outdoor and indoor performance venues, shopping, and restaurants and bars. HRI also proposes indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces to host conventions and other events. The project is backed locally by The United Company and Par Ventures, with HRI as the designated gaming operator. Developers estimate the project would create up to 2,000 jobs and generate up to $20 million annually in city tax revenues.

City officials say Bristol lost more than $5 million in tax revenues since the mall closed but anticipate gaining many times more each year going forward. Bristol and 11 other locales in southwestern Virginia would share gaming tax revenues. Bristol is one of four municipalities in Virginia where local voters in November approved ballot initiatives enabling respective casino proposals to move forward. 5,547 votes were cast for the casino project versus 2,221 against. Portsmouth, Danville, and Norfolk also plan casino developments. Virginia’s capital city of Richmond also has legislative approval for a casino but has not held a voter referendum.

The Virginia Assembly in 2019 approved legislation that quickly was signed into law. It enables up to five casino developments in five cities. Four of those cities, including Bristol, held ballot initiatives that local voters approved overwhelmingly. The Bristol casino and at least one other would be operated by a tribal gaming enterprise, like HRI, which the Seminole Tribe of Florida wholly owns.

Developers say the Bristol casino could be in operation first sometime in 2022. The Bristol Mall location closed in 2017 after its last anchor store, a Sears, closed its doors. The mall opened in April 1975 with stores located inside a 500,000-square-foot building. The vacant mall recently was listed for sale with a $5 million asking price.