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Caesars Virginia in Danville Churns Out Long Lines, Lofty Excitement

Caesars Entertainment this week opened its newest casino resort by way of Virginia’s Danville.

Caesars Virginia Danville casino resort
Caesars Virginia is officially open in Danville. The $750 million property is the third permanent casino to open in the commonwealth after Rivers Casino Portsmouth and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol. (Image: Caesars Entertainment)

On Tuesday, the brand-new Caesars Virginia opened to a long line of guests who patiently waited for hours outside the $750 million integrated resort complex located on the former grounds of the Dan River Mills textile manufacturing campus. Part of the property’s historic roots remain with the Three Sisters, as Caesars retained the iconic smokestacks that have stood over Danville for decades.

Caesars Virginia was initially scheduled to open on Thursday, December 12 but Caesars delayed the opening until December 17.

Guests said it was worth the wait.

I’m proud of it,” Danville resident Dorothy Walker told CBS7. “It’s beautiful. It’s changing the whole city. It’s going to be beautiful at night when you pass by instead of seeing just a big, old, brick building sitting with nothing in it.”

“When you walk in, you feel like you’re in Las Vegas,” added local Douglas Whorley.

Caesars, Tribal Project

While the Caesars name dons the luxury resort casino that has 1,500 slot machines, 79 live dealer table games, 48 electronic table games, a World Series of Poker Room, and a Caesars Sportsbook, the development is a joint venture between the Nevada-based gaming giant and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI).

Caesars and the tribe that holds federal recognition in North Carolina have been strategically aligned for many years. Caesars has run the Cherokees’ two tribal casino resorts in their home state — Harrah’s Cherokee in Cherokee and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River in Murphy — since they respectively opened in 1997 and 2015.

“The grand opening of Caesars Virginia in Danville marks another proud moment of our partnership with Caesars. It reflects the EBCI’s commitment to economic growth, job creation, and community investment. We’re honored to be part of an effort that creates lasting opportunities for the people of Danville and the surrounding region,” said EBCI Chief Michell Hicks.

Along with 90K square feet of gaming, Caesars Virginia has 320 hotel rooms, 50K square feet of meeting space, and a 2,500-seat theater. A full-service spa and pool are among the resort’s amenities.

Caesars Virginia also turns Danville into a culinary destination with a wide variety of dining options highlighted by Michelin-starred celebrity chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay’s Ramsay’s Kitchen. Additional options include the Asian-themed Dan Dan Noodle, Three Smokes, a casual American eatery, and the 500 Block Food Hall by local restaurateur Steve Parry.

Opening Ceremonies 

Caesars Virginia formally opened with five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman serving as the master of ceremonies. The event kicked off with a parade of race and supercars supplied by the Virginia International Raceway, Kaizen Autosport, and Foreign Cars Italia weaving through the heart of Danville.

After arriving at the casino, Rodman placed the first sports bet — a $100 five-leg parlay on all five teams he played for in the NBA to win their next game. A fireworks and drone show then ensued.

The City of Danville is expecting to receive $35 million to $40 million annually from Caesars Virginia. The city receives about 6.5% of the casino’s monthly gross gaming revenue. It will also collect taxes on hotel stays, food and beverage, entertainment, and other resort revenue.

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Virginia Lawmakers Mull Formation of Gaming Commission Following Expansion

Virginia lawmakers in Richmond continue to study whether the commonwealth should form an agency dedicated to the regulation of commercial gaming.

Virginia Gaming Commission casinos parimutuel wagering
The Joint Subcommittee to Study the Feasibility of Establishing the Virginia Gaming Commission is seen in July 2024. Churchill Downs wants parimutuel wagering to remain under the regulatory scope of the Virginia Racing Commission. (Image: X)

Virginia has expanded gambling considerably in recent years to include up to five brick-and-mortar casinos with slot machines, live dealer table games, and sports betting. Virginia is also now home to online sports betting and slot-like historical horse racing machines that operate in parimutuel wagering facilities.

The Virginia Lottery oversees lottery gaming, casino activity, and retail and mobile sports betting. The Virginia Racing Commission regulates HHR gaming, horse racing, and parimutuel wagering.

A joint subcommittee of the Virginia General Assembly remains reviewing the feasibility of establishing a commercial gaming regulatory, which would be named the Virginia Gaming Commission. The body would regulate casino gambling, online sports betting, HHR wagering, and parimutuel facilities. The Virginia Lottery would return to only governing lottery operations.

The joint subcommittee is expected to make its recommendations to the General Assembly in January.

Consultant Recommends Formation 

During the joint subcommittee’s meeting on Wednesday, Brianne Doura-Schawohl, a consultant with her boutique Doura-Schawohl Consulting, LLC, recommended to the bipartisan panel to set aside funding for the establishment of the Virginia Gaming Commission. Doura-Schawohl said a central gaming regulatory agency is best at providing consumer protections, governing operators, and ensuring that the societal harms of expanded gaming are minimalized.

Doura-Schawohl said Virginia has an obligation to direct a percentage of its gaming tax for the research, prevention, treatment, and recovery of problem gambling.

The most comprehensive model to mitigate risk and reduce harm is a bifurcated approach between the state health agency and one central gaming regulatory agency,” Doura-Schawohl said. “The regulatory should be empowered to require and enforce stringent consumer protection provisions as part of licensure.”

Virginia, once among the most limited gaming states, is poised to become a big player in the US casino industry as retail casino resorts open across the commonwealth.

In January 2023, Rivers Casino Portsmouth became the first permanent casino to open in Virginia. Larger casino resorts are soon opening in Danville and Bristol.

Caesars Entertainment plans to open its $750 million integrated resort Caesars Virginia in Danville before the year’s end. Hard Rock International plans to open the $550 million Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol this fall or winter.

Petersburg voters will decide whether to authorize a $1.4 billion mixed-use complex with an integrated resort casino this November. And the Pamunkey Indian Tribe continues to move forward with a more than $500 million casino project in Norfolk.

Churchill’s Opposition

Churchill Downs, Inc., which operates HHR machines in Virginia and is building The Rose Gaming Resort, a $460 million development, in Dumfries, is opposed to putting parimutuel wagering regulation under the scope of the proposed Virginia Gaming Commission.

Churchill, which also owns and operates the Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent, says other states that have moved parimutuel wagering regulation from a racing commission to a gaming commission have seen allocations to horsemen decline. The Kentucky-based company pointed to Michigan where in 1997 the Michigan Racing Commission merged with the newly formed Michigan Gaming Control Board.

Michigan’s once vibrant thoroughbred industry went from running over 1,000 races for $9 million in purses (2003) to ceasing thoroughbred racing,” Churchill’s presentation to the joint subcommittee detailed. “In 2003, there were 375 thoroughbreds foaled in Michigan and in 2022 there were four.”

Michigan’s final racetrack, Northville Downs, closed earlier this year bringing an end to Michigan’s horse racing industry.

“Given the nuances of parimutuel wagering, live horse racing, simulcast wagering, and advanced deposit wagering, Churchill Downs believes the oversight of historical and live horse racing should remain at the Virginia Racing Commission,” the company concluded.

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West Virginia Senator Exposed Himself in Slots Parlor, Prosecutors Claim

A West Virginia Republican state senator was arrested Tuesday allegedly for pleasuring himself in a video lottery parlor, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Mike Maroney, West Virginia state senator, indecent exposure
State Sen. Mike Maroney (R), mugshot above, denies masturbating in a video lottery parlor. He has been relieved of his duties as chair of the West Virginia Senate’s Health and Human Resources Committee so he can work on his “personal issues.” (Image: Glen Dale Police Department)

Sen. Mike Maroney, 56, was suspended from his duties as chair of the Senate’s Health and Human Resources Committee. That’s after being charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure and disorderly conduct.

On Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty to the charges in Marshall County Magistrate Court.

Caught on Camera

Maroney was spotted on security video by two female employees of Gumby’s Cigarette & Beer World in Glen Dale, near Wheeling, WV, “committing an act of sexual gratification” in the bar’s slots parlor, according to prosecutors. The alleged incident occurred on August 4 at about 1 p.m. and no one else was in the room at the time.

Senate President Craig Blair (R) told local Fox and ABC affiliate WCHS-TV Wednesday that Maroney had been relieved of his responsibilities so he could dedicate time to his “personal issues.”

The facts that have emerged are troubling, and I am disappointed,” Blair said. “However, in this time, our primary focus is on the well-being of Senator Maroney.”

Blair added that he would offer prayers for his “friend Mike” and his family “as he deals with these issues.”

Maroney was elected to the state Senate in 2016 and re-elected in 2020. He had just months to serve after losing his bid for a third term in the 2024 primary.

He previously raised eyebrows in 2019 when he was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of soliciting a prostitute. The charge was later dropped for lack of evidence.

Gaming Champion

The senator’s longtime support of the gaming industry in West Virginia’s Northern Panhandle might explain his presence at the video gambling establishment. However, his alleged behavior while there was “not up to the standard of what we expect from our elected leaders in the State Senate of West Virginia,” Blair noted.

In 2020, Maroney opposed a legislative effort to ban greyhound racing in the state, which is now the only state in the US that still offers live races. He described the bill as “disturbing” and “embarrassing,” as he sought to protect the interests of the state’s two northern racinos.

He has also been a champion of sports betting. Again in 2020, he co-sponsored a bill that would have permitted betting on political events, although the events of this week were not a political outcome even the wiliest bettor could have predicted.

Maroney has been released on a $3,500 bond.

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