City of Roanoke advances casino project request to state lawmakers despite resistance from local representatives

City officials say the casino and entertainment district will bring jobs and economic growth through an additional hotel, gaming revenue and restaurants, and attract performers and talent to Roanoke.

Each fall, the city shares with its state representatives guidelines as to what kinds of legislation the city would benefit from in the upcoming General Assembly session. Legislative items are broken into categories, including public safety, economic development and housing.

Roanoke-area legislators, including Del. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke; Del. Joe McNamara, R-Roanoke County; and state Sen. David Suetterlein, R-Roanoke County, have spoken out against the casino proposal. To open a casino in Virginia, a locality must win approval from the General Assembly and then hold a referendum to allow residents to vote on the issue.

“I would not vote for a casino, probably under any circumstances,” Rasoul said in a recent interview. 

Shortly after the proposal was announced on Oct. 14, McNamara and Suetterlein released a joint statement, stating that the idea was “completely misguided.” McNamara said by phone that he thought a casino would be an “incubator of a lot of bad stuff”. After the announcement, some council members said they were on the fence or that it was too early to have an opinion.

The city’s written list of legislative priorities, obtained through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, doesn’t include the casino and entertainment district. Mayor Joe Cobb said this is because the lobbyist who handles the main list of items has a conflict of interest with another casino developer. The city will work with a different group to bring this item to the General Assembly, he said.

Cobb and the legislative committee’s vice chair advocated for the casino issue’s inclusion on the agenda, despite the committee chair’s own opposition.

‘Our most important priority this session’

Terry McGuire, chair of the council’s legislative committee, shared an updated draft of the legislative agenda in an Oct. 16 email to deputy city manager Sam Roman, committee vice chair Peter Volosin and deputy city attorney Laura Carini, following a meeting McGuire had with the legislators. Cardinal News obtained this email, in a thread of related emails, through the Virginia Freedom of Information Act. 

“I did not include the casino proposal as all three [legislators] flatly rejected that,” McGuire said in the email. 

Later that afternoon, Cobb responded, stating that “collectively, as a Council, we support the efforts related to creating an entertainment district including a casino,” and that he believes the matter still needs to be taken to the General Assembly, even though “our local legislators have stated their initial opposition.”

Volosin carried that sentiment the next morning, with an email to the same group: “Add the casino priority to the Economic Development section. It is our most important priority this session, even if our delegation aren’t helping.”

Later that afternoon, McGuire responded: “Respectfully, I disagree and don’t think it’s a good idea, so I’m going to leave it out. I welcome supporters make a motion to include it on Monday, but I would vote no on that addition.” 

Cobb then addressed McGuire in a message to the group, including City Manager Valmarie Turner: “Though you are Chair of the legislative committee, it is not your decision to leave out a major item from our legislative agenda that a majority of council supports.”

Cobb added that McGuire had “not indicated” that he was not in support of the proposal. 

McGuire has declined to comment further on the issue. Volosin did not respond to emails and a voicemail message requesting further comment about the legislative agenda.

Casino idea born from discussions with new city manager, mayor says

Cobb acknowledged in a recent interview that the casino “is one of our most important priorities, just in terms of timeliness.”

Roanoke’s city leaders have said over the past six months that Roanoke is struggling financially and is looking for ways to generate revenue and cut costs. In the past budget cycle, the city increased the meals tax by 1%, conducted across-the-board cuts and leveled the school division’s funding, with further changes to how the city funds its schools expected in the coming year.

Cobb said that he would identify housing as the most important priority on the legislative agenda. In the housing category, the council has two priority actions that Cobb said could be “game changers” for Roanoke. One is requesting support for an amendment to code allowing Roanoke to adopt an affordable housing program to encourage the construction of moderately priced homes. The second action is increasing the property value limit for land bank acquisition from $75,000 to $150,000.

He also identified the expansion of the runway at the Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport and restoration of funding toward expansion of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine as important items this year.

Cobb said when Turner became city manager in January, they began analyzing the city’s assets — including the Berglund Center, which is the location for the proposed casino.

“We’re thinking about how to address some of the deferred capital issues related to the Berglund Center and how to enhance the experience of that asset and grow it,” he said of the city’s civic center, which is over 50 years old.

Since at least fiscal year 2023, the city has spent $1.5 million per year on capital improvements at the Berglund Center and will continue to do so until FY2027, according to the city’s capital improvement plan. Each year, $21,550 is funded by cash, with the rest coming from bond funding.

Cobb said he also wants to attract performing acts that are skipping over Roanoke to go to Charlottesville or cities in North Carolina.

“One of the persistent questions I’ve heard throughout my time in Roanoke and on council is people of all ages saying we need to increase our entertainment options in the city,” he said.

Roanoke is an “important” location for an entertainment district in comparison to other localities in the region, Cobb said, because Roanoke has an airport, an Amtrak station and existing tourism based on the city’s outdoor amenities. 

When asked what the city’s approach would be moving forward without legislative support, he said the city will continue to meet with legislators to talk about “the overall vision” for Roanoke and how it connects to “other aspects of growth in our region.” He also cited a potential for 900 to 1,000 new hospitality jobs, post-casino construction.

“It’s also an opportunity in some cases to introduce some of the legislators to understand why having different growth sectors in Southwest Virginia and Southside are important and critical.”

But Rasoul said he already sees a diversified local economy in Roanoke, and the best way to keep growing is to “capitalize on some of our main resources.”

He said there is a “bigger case to be made” for a casino in localities with extremely high unemployment that are lacking other opportunities, but Roanoke is “lucky to have some good things going” for it.

“My tone is sympathetic,” said Rasoul, who has acknowledged that balancing local budgets is difficult. “I understand. It’s just when this idea came out, it’s not in line with how I think we should be investing.”

Rasoul said he’s more likely to support other legislative priorities on Roanoke’s list, including funding for schools and community programming, projects that would help expand the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, movement to expand the Blue Ridge Innovation Corridor and affordability of housing and utilities.

Other legislative priorities on the city’s agenda 

The city has broken its list of legislative items into “priority actions” and other “positions.” McGuire said on Nov. 15 that changes can still be made at this point, but that the priorities are nearly finalized. Here are some of the other priority actions the city has identified: 

• Support a legislative amendment to existing code that would provide financial assistance to those seeking to return home after receiving medical treatment at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital if they are unable to afford transportation. 
• Support converting the Virginia Museum of Transportation into a state agency.
• Support restoration of state funding toward expansion of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine.
• Support $10 million in funding needed to build an Amtrak station in downtown Roanoke.
• Support legislation that gives localities additional tools and authority to combat urban tree canopy loss during the zoning and development processes. 
• Support legislation and incentives to expand siting opportunities for solar, including new and existing buildings and parking garages, sites with impervious surfaces and brownfields.