Last month, Churchill Downs and Rosie’s Gaming Emporium submitted an application for a new gambling facility and “casino-like parlor” in a vacant part of the Staples Mill Shopping Center that was previously occupied by Surplus Furniture and Mattress.
That move drew a quick rebuke from a bipartisan clutch of state legislators, led by Democratic Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, whose district includes the shopping center. In a letter to Churchill Downs CEO William Carstanjen, the lawmakers accused the Louisville-based gambling company of skirting public hearing rules that kicked in July 1.
Those rules require a public hearing for a zoning ordinance change.
“This project, which includes the installation of 175 historical horse racing machines, has the potential to bring about undesirable changes to our community,” the lawmakers wrote.
Ben Morgan was taking his family to Subway in the shopping center on Wednesday.
He’s not enthusiastic about the shopping center potentially adding the gambling site.
“That’s not something we’d be thrilled with,” Morgan told VPM News. “I’d hate to be that NIMBY person, but especially after the referendum that went on [in Richmond] … it’s usually not a positive thing for anyone other than who owns the gambling facility.”
Angel Santoyo, a Richmond resident who works in Henrico, was more enthusiastic about the prospect of gambling coming to the county.
“Any grand attraction would be great for us, it would bring some new money in,” Santoyo said, adding that the shopping center is “the perfect size, perfect space, perfect parking.”
The proposed location would involve patrons betting on what’s known as “historical horse racing,” when bettors use terminals similar to slot machines to place pari-mutuel wagers on replays of horse races that have already occurred.
Virginia’s General Assembly approved historical horse racing in 2018, and the Virginia Racing Commission has licensed 1,300 such machines for use in the greater Richmond area — including 700 at Rosie’s Midlothian location.
The consortium proposing the Henrico project has been at the center of repeated referenda to bring gambling to Central Virginia. Richmond residents narrowly voted down a 2021 proposal for a casino project to be built in Southside, then dismissed a second referendum in 2023.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported after the 2021 vote that casino backers Urban One and Peninsula Pacific Entertainment — Rosie’s former parent company — spent more money per vote than either Gov. Glenn Youngkin or former Gov. Terry McAuliffe spent on their gubernatorial campaign.
