PETERSBURG – One of the five vendors bidding on Petersburg’s casino business has asked an NFL Hall of Famer and Virginia native to carry the ball for Sunday afternoon’s town hall meeting.
Former defensive end-turned-developer Bruce Smith is working with The Cordish Companies on its presentation for the meeting at the Petersburg Public Library, a Cordish representative said in an email Monday.
Cordish, who partnered with Petersburg last year in its unsuccessful effort to win the state’s fifth casino host spot, is back for a second attempt at landing the city’s casino business. Bally’s Corp., Penn Entertainment, Rush Street Gaming and The Warrenton Group are the others.
Cordish is offering a peek behind the curtain at its bid, which is expected to be close to the $1.4 billion proposal it made last year. To make the pitch more palatable, Cordish said Smith will emphasize the importance of having someone with strong ties to both Virginia and the Black community to develop the project in a Black-majority city such as Petersburg.
Enter Smith, a Norfolk native who played pro football for the Buffalo Bills and the then-Washington Redskins over 19 seasons. He started Bruce Smith Enterprises, a real-estate development company, in 2004 and is working on a “Smith’s Landing” hotel and restaurant complex in Blacksburg, home of his alma mater Virginia Tech. He already owns a 137-room hotel there.
Smith lives in Virginia Beach.
Cordish and Smith say none of the other prospective bidders have any roots in Virginia, even though Chicago-owned Rush Street Gaming owns Rivers Casino in Portsmouth and wants to open a second establishment 76 miles to the west in Petersburg.
“Outsourcing a project of this magnitude to a visiting developer with no ties or interest in uplifting the community will do little to fix the problem,” Smith said in a statement released by Cordish. “Changing outcomes in historically disenfranchised and underserved populations requires that we must be provided the opportunities to strengthen our communities from within.”
In the statement, Smith claimed the representation and African American participation that his company brings to the casino project is “crucial to the reinvestment in and future prosperity of the city.” Petersburg residents should support a native Virginia developer “who desires to create a brighter future for a city that has been too long ignored.”
Petersburg is expected to vote on a referendum in November that would allow casino business in the city. If successful, it will join Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth as hosts.
After two unsuccessful attempts in the last two legislative sessions, Petersburg finally cleared the hurdle this year to allow the referendum. That effort got boosted over the weekend when Gov. Glenn Youngkin amended Sen. Lashrecse Aird’sreferendumlegislation to strike language that would require a second General Assembly vote on it either in a regular or special session.
That clause was added to the Senate bill by the House of Delegates. Aird, D-Petersburg, has endorsed the governor’s request that will be taken up in the April 17 veto session.
Aird is hosting Sunday’s town hall at the library. It will begin at 2 p.m.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @BAtkinson_PI.
