Caesars Wins Bid For A Future Casino Sportsbook In VA

• The city of Danville, Virginia has announced that Caesars Entertainment has won a vote to become the “preferred casino gaming operator” of the town.
• This move comes in wake of larger Virginia sports betting legislation that was passed in April, officially bringing sports betting to the state.

DANVILLE, Va. – Residents in Virginia are watching as their state moves rapidly through regulations and processing in order to make sportsbooks in Virginia a reality following the legalization of the practice back in April.

The most recent progress came in the form of a vote held by the city of Danville whereas Caesars Entertainment was elected to become the city’s “preferred casino gaming operator.”

Danville was one of a few host cities given permission by the State to hold a referendum on casino gaming in November during the general election.

What this means is that Caesars now has the right to build a casino and gaming establishment in the state, which it will begin work on as soon as the Danville city council officially approves the notion after November voting, and the state law has gone into effect.

Caesars made a bid that included a $400 Million capital investment to the project, which was able to win over Danville officials.

The planned resort would include up to 500 hotel rooms, a 35,000 square-ft conference center, a 2,500 seat live entertainment venue, 2,000 slot machines, 75 table games, 16 poker tables, and of course, a state-of-the-art sportsbook.

All of this is possible due to the state of Virginia passing a package of gaming expansion bills earlier this year, officially making sports betting legal in Virginia.

The state of Virginia instated a plan to use the sports betting legislation as a catalyst to bring increased revenue into some of the more “economically challenged” areas of the state.

Danville officials expect the resort to bring in over $30 Million in annual revenue to the local economy, while not hurting the state’s pockets getting the facility up and running.

“Unlike most economic development projects, this one does not involve any incentives from the city or state,” said Ken Larking Danville city manager. “It is our intention to use a portion of these upfront funds to begin construction of a new Police Headquarters and to spur private investment in the White Mill.”

This news comes in tandem with Caesars’ other recent announcement of bringing online sports betting to Indiana, where it will also plan to build a full resort.

This kind of capitalization by big name casino brands to use their platform to bring sports betting to newly legalized states is a good sign in the overall progress of US sports betting.

As more and more high revenue facilities are brought to these states, the effect may carry over to neighboring states which might not have regulates sports betting yet. Soon those areas will be envious of the added tourism revenue generated by these facilities, and the discussion of legalizing sports betting will be brought up yet again.

Given VA residents’ affection to sports and their first opportunity to indulge in casino betting in their state, sportsbooks in Virginia certainly have much to look forward to in the coming year and years ahead.

News tags: Caesars Entertainment | Danville | Ken Larking | Virginia