This week, the Richmond City Council announced the planned ONE Casino + Resort will no longer launch during the planned December 2023 window. Instead, the project has been pushed back by a minimum of nine months, making the earliest opening date October 1, 2024.
The delay is partly due to the lack of any public approval for the project, with Richmond voters yet to give a positive vote on the large scale casino scheme.
Alfred Liggins, III, president and chief executive officer of Urban One has suggested the company is not willing to spend the $563m required on the huge casino project without a public consensus and a chance of cancelation.
The organization has already invested $70m into the project.
The decision to delay has seen plans for the 250-room hotel pushed as well to an even later date, now not expected until October 2025.
The news was presented to the council by Leonard Sledge, Richmond’s city economic director, and will be voted on by July 12.
Under the new plans the casino project will require buying the proposed land and begin demolition and building by April 2022.
It has also been agreed that once the casino opens, the city will receive at least $29m a year in new tax-based revenue. Furthermore, ONE Casino + Resort promised to create nearly 1,000 full-time jobs and over 35 part-time jobs that would pay a minimum of $15 an hour.
