Virginia's latest casino opens in Petersburg
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Just some of the slots one can play 24/7 at the casino. Image: Courtesy of Live! Casino Virginia
Petersburg's Live! Casino Virginia — the temporary, tented version of the coming-in-2027 full-scale casino and hotel — opens on Thursday at 5pm.
Why it matters: It's the fifth casino to open in the state since 2022, and likely the closest Richmonders will get to one.
State of play: Live! Casino Virginia is from Baltimore-based gaming group The Cordish Companies and Virginia Beach-based real estate firm Bruce Smith Enterprise.
- The 75,000-square-foot tent-casino is just off I-95 on Wagner Road in South Petersburg, and a solid 30-minute drive south from Richmond.
- It'll be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Zoom in: The casino won't offer free alcoholic drinks to gamblers, a spokesperson for Live! tells Axios. It will have:
- 🎰 900+ slot machines
- 🃏 30+ gaming tables
- 🎲 One "high limit" bettor section
- 📺 Dozens of TVs
- 🅿️ 1,000+ free parking spaces
- 🍻 One quick-service restaurant and bar, Luckies Kitchen, serving food and drinks nearly round-the-clock, and a hot food menu from 11am-2am weekday, and until 4am on weekends.
Flashback: In 2020, Virginia lawmakers gave five cities around the state permission to hold a referendum allowing casino gaming.
- Richmond was the only one where voters rejected the proposal. Twice.
Stunning stat: Last year, Virginia's four existing casinos raked in $969.1 million in adjusted gaming revenue (wagers minus winning payouts), Virginia Business reports.
- That was a 32% increase over the casinos' 2024 haul.
- And included the $2.6 million in revenue from the temporary casino in Norfolk, which opened Nov. 7.
What's next: Petersburg's permanent casino, which will have a hotel and meeting and entertainment space, should open by the end of 2027.