Last week, the Virginia General Assembly cleared the way for Petersburg to become a casino host city.

Four other Virginia cities — Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth — have previously been approved as host cities, and voters in each city successfully passed a referendum to approve casino gaming in the locality.

Three of the four cities — Norfolk being the exception — are home to operational casinos. Richmond was designated as the state’s fifth casino host city, but a pair of referendums failed in the state capital.

Thanks to Richmond’s failure, Petersburg now has its chance to become home to a brick-and-mortar casino, should its November referendum succeed. Online casinos aren’t legal in Virginia, but retail casino gaming is growing in the Commonwealth.

“This opportunity has the potential to be a game changer for our city,” Petersburg Mayor Sam Parham said in a statement.

A referendum is expected in November, but prior to then, city officials must pick one of the handful of companies bidding to build the casino. The Virginia Lottery also has to review that proposal before the topic can ultimately reach voters in November.

Then, of course, Petersburg voters have to approve the idea. Richmond casino stakeholders failed to succeed in passing the referendum despite pouring millions of dollars into lobbying efforts.

Photo: Getty Images.