A group of people from Richmond, Virginia, celebrated the city’s failed casino referendum over the weekend, signing a “vote no casino” banner on Saturday and Sunday.

The banner, which originally flew over the Richmond Folk Festival on Oct. 15, is expected to be donated to the Valentine Museum, a local history museum. The 15-foot tall and 100-foot long banner will go to the museum as a symbol of the backlash against the proposal. 

The referendum, which was the city’s second casino referendum, saw about 60% of Richmonders vote against it. That was a larger margin of failure than the 2021 effort.

Casino stakeholders poured roughly $10 million into political efforts to make the second referendum successful, but ultimately came up short. They weren’t helped by a public relations nightmare days prior to the referendum, when radio clips showcasing several casino stakeholders making insensitive remarks surfaced.

New casino elsewhere?

With a majority of Richmonders seemingly anti-casino, there’s been discussion about housing Virginia’s fifth casino in a different city. Currently, Bristol, Danville, and Portsmouth have operational casinos. A casino is expected to open in Norfolk in the coming years as well. 

Some legislators in the northern part of the state hope to push legislation in 2024 that could bring a casino to northern Virginia. It’s unclear if the residents of the area have an appetite for a casino, however. 

Stakeholders in Petersburg have also pushed for a casino to go there. Petersburg supporters helped prevent Richmond from holding a referendum in 2022.

While the location of a fifth casino remains murky, Richmond seems like it’s off the list of potential destinations in Virginia for the foreseeable future.

Online casino apps are not legally available in Virginia, making brick-and-mortar locations the lone avenue for Virginia customers to play legal casino games.

Photo: Farid Alan Schintzius