What is a 'tent casino'? Petersburg prepares for temporary facility to open
PETERSBURG — The new "Live! Casino Virginia" in Petersburg won't open for at least another year, but gamblers will have an option starting in January.
The 75,000-square-foot temporary casino — also known as a “tent casino” due to its modular, semi-permanent structure — will feature more than 900 slot machines, 30 live action game tables, and a signature bar and restaurant.
Virginia law allows for the temporary casino, which has been popular in other localities.
In Bristol, a temporary casino brought in $145 million in revenue in 2023 before a permanent Hard Rock casino opened. In Danville, the temporary Caesars facility had $126 million in revenue in just six months.
Per state law, Petersburg will keep 6% of the taxes collected at the casino. A state study estimated that in 2028, the casino's projected first full year of operation, Petersburg will receive $12.2 million in taxes from gambling at the casino.
What's in the tent?
Designed to give residents an early taste of what’s to come, the tent casino serves as a bridge between the planning phase and the opening of the full resort.
That preview, according to Rob Norton, President of Cordish Gaming Group, is already visible to anyone driving past the site.
“I hope, as you all drove here today down [I-95], you got a clear sight of our temporary facility and how visible it is,” Norton said during a press conference on Thursday. “Now imagine what a multi-story hotel tower and casino resort will look like as you make the same drive.”
The large, white structure rises just off I-95 and is a temporary landmark signaling the scale of the development still to come. The facility is designed to operate until the full resort is completed in 2027, generating more than 500 jobs and revenue in the interim.
“One thing that really excites us here is that we are located at the heart of the East Coast, just south of the [I-85] and [I-95] connection. Now, all the people moving north-south, connecting from Georgia all the way to New York, we have an opportunity to capture those customers and bring them into this region.”
Will Richmonders come?
While Norton expressed interest in marketing to clients across the Tri-Cities area, drawing in Richmond-based residents could present a challenge.
In 2021 and 2023, Richmond voters rejected proposals to build a casino resort within city limits, citing moral concerns, questions about economic impact, and uncertainty about how the project would truly serve their communities.
The location of the proposed resort, Richmond’s Southside, is an area long plagued with unserved corridors and uneven economic growth. For this reason, some community members saw the proposal as an opportunity, while others worried it would do little to fix longstanding disparities.
“Casinos are predatory through and through," one user wrote on Reddit, a space where the casino was hotly debated. “The last thing Southside needed was a place to gamble that’s designed to be as addicting as possible.”
After the second rejection, Petersburg voters were allowed to weigh in, and enthusiastically embraced the casino, giving it more than 80% of the vote in 2024.
Southside Richmond and Petersburg share some similarities, including challenges with aging infrastructure, limited commercial development, and concentrated pockets of poverty.
Norton addressed those concerns at the press conference, noting the net-positive economic impact the resort is expected to have in Petersburg.
“We’re of course supporters of the casino industry — particularly if it’s done right,” Norton said. “By creating jobs, economic drivers, and physical locations where people can socialize, it becomes a driver economically because of the jobs it creates, and also because of the social environment it creates.”
The competition
While the region has debated casino development for years, other forms of gaming have made headway and gradually expanded the options available to local players. Rosie’s Gaming Emporium — a chain of pari-mutuel and "historical horse racing” (HHR) parlors — has operated in the Richmond area in 2019.
The state study projected Rosie's will lose some customers to the new Petersburg casino when it opens.
Norton said he does not worry about the competition. Instead, he embraces it.
“We love competition — it’s in our DNA,” he said. “What we bring that’s unique is our live brand, and even in this temporary facility, when you walk in, you’re going to notice a difference in our temporary casino (from) maybe others you’ve seen in the past because we’re going to bring the Live! entertainment experience to what we do.”
At the same time, he recognized that some residents may still have reservations about the impact of a new casino.
He encouraged skeptics to experience the facility themselves.
“When you bring a new casino into any jurisdiction, there’s always trepidation around the typical types of concerns that are used to instill fear," he said. "I would encourage Richmonders to come down here, feel the hospitality, feel the welcoming presence, and have a great time. We are your casino, and we welcome you with open arms.”
