BizSense Beat is a weekly collaboration between VPM News and Richmond BizSense that brings you the top business stories during NPR's Morning Edition on Fridays.
Here’s a recap of the top stories for the week of July 19, 2024:
Gambling facility in the works in Henrico draws rebuke from county supervisor
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jonathan Spiers
The owner of Colonial Downs and Rosie’s Gaming Emporium has drawn criticism from a Henrico supervisor who said the company circumvented an update to zoning rules by submitting plans for a gambling facility in the county before the new rules could take effect.
Churchill Downs Inc., which owns the New Kent County racetrack and the seven Rosie’s off-track horse-betting parlors across Virginia, filed plans last month to convert part of the Staples Mill Shopping Center into a casino-like parlor with 175 “historical horse racing” game machines, along with a restaurant and bar.
The facility is set to fill a nearly 25,000-square-foot space between a Virginia ABC store and Subway restaurant at the western end of the shopping center’s main building at Staples Mill Road and Glenside Drive. The currently vacant space previously housed a Surplus Furniture & Mattress store.
State legislators join calls for Henrico gambling parlor project to be withdrawn
Reported by Richmond Bizsense’s Jonathan Spiers
Henrico supervisors’ opposition to a planned horse-betting parlor has the backing of the county’s state legislative delegation.
A letter signed by the eight members who represent Henrico in the Virginia General Assembly calls on the CEO of Churchill Downs Inc. to withdraw the company’s plan for a casino-like parlor with “historical horse racing” game machines at Staples Mill Shopping Center.
The July 16 letter is addressed to CEO Bill Carstanjen, who leads the company that runs the Kentucky Derby and owns the Colonial Downs racetrack in New Kent County and the seven Rosie’s Gaming Emporium parlors across Virginia. Churchill Downs submitted the Henrico plan via its Richmond-based Colonial Downs Group LLC.
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