Rivers Casino Portsmouth: 1st year in review
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It was billed as a major tax driver for Portsmouth and a project that would bring in outside investments to the region. How much is the city actually benefitting?
PORTSMOUTH, Va. — To date, Rivers Casino Portsmouth remains the only fully built, non-temporary brick-and-mortar casino gaming operation in Virginia.
For years, the project was hailed as a "big win" for the city as an economic driver that would fuel outside investment in the Victory Boulevard corridor while injecting an influx of tax revenue back into the city. But how much has the City of Portsmouth benefitted financially?
Portsmouth has seen $15.5M in casino tax revenue, exceeding projections
In the 12 months since the opening of the casino, it has generated more than $250 million in total gaming revenue while averaging roughly $20 million every month in slot machine and table game gambling.
At a 6% locality tax back to the City of Portsmouth, the adjusted gaming revenue (AGR) has so far led to $15.5 million in tax revenue back to the city.
Brian Donahue, Portsmouth's director of economic development, said that's over $2 million more than the original projections for the casino. The city's slice of the tax revenue back is now higher moving forward.
“There is a sliding scale so as the revenues of the casino increase, so does the percentage that comes back to the locality. Initially, that’s a 6% return but in this case, as the revenues grow to $200 million, that increases to a 7% benefit to the city. As of November of 2023, the casino had already earned just around $225 million," Donahue said.
So can Portsmouth residents actually see firsthand those tax dollars being put to use? Donahue says yes... but it might not be blatantly obvious.
“That operating budget is reallocating various community needs, capital improvement project, day-to-day operations in the city... but at the end of the day that’s a net benefit to our operating budget," Donahue said.
"Revenues that have been generated to date have assisted Portsmouth with high profile projects, where had those monies not been there, they would have been deferred."
Changes to the casino's operations
Soon after the opening of Rivers Casino Portsmouth, casino leadership changed its smoking policy after patrons took to social media and Google Reviews voicing concerns about the prevalent smell of smoke inside the gaming areas.
"In response to feedback from guests and the community, effective immediately Rivers Casino Portsmouth has modified our smoking policy.
"Approximately half of the gaming floor will now be designated as nonsmoking, including both slots and table games. Signage has been posted to identify smoking and nonsmoking areas. Cigars and vaping are strictly prohibited."
"Since the year we've been opened, there have been lots of changes. We changed alcohol service hours, we stepped up our partnership with Portsmouth Police to have them around the clock, we finished the police substation on the property," said Roy Corby, General Manager for Rivers Casino Portsmouth.
Cashing in down the street
Donicia Grimes chose the small space less than two miles from Rivers Casino Portsmouth for her first entrepreneurial venture, The Table Tapas Bar.
“When you come in, you can hear the person besides you or in front of you. It’s my first [enterprise] so I didn’t want to jump out into a lot of debt or have a lot of overhead," she tells 13News Now.
In the less than two months since opening, Grimes notes that many of her customers have come because of her close proximity to the casino.
"People have come down here, and when we asked, ‘What brought you down here?’ they said they Googled food near [the casino]," she added.
When asked if private businesses can flourish at the same time as the casino itself, Grimes believes both can thrive simultaneously.
“They may not want Yard House or Admirals -- those are the two big-name restaurants -- they might be too expensive and they’ll say, ‘Where can we go that’s reasonable and let my hair down?'" she said.
Problem gaming trends in VA for 2023
According to Carolyn Hawley, Director of the Virginia Council on Problem Gaming, there has been a noticeable trend in problem gaming calls in the time since Virginians approved four casino referendums across the state in 2020.
“When we look at when the casinos started opening up, sports betting operating at the same exact time, what we saw with the helpline is a huge spike and huge spike in people reporting gambling problems. Our callers used to be individuals who tended to be older, now people were identified evenly split between males and females, people who had reported gambling for years," she tells 13News Now.
According to Hawley, the VCPG staffs and oversees the state's problem gaming helpline.
13News Now requested the call data through the helpline for 2023 and found that the helpline received 898 total "intakes" across all types of gambling.
Casino-related gaming calls to the helpline now make up roughly 44% of the total problem gaming calls to the helpline. The helpline received 391 casino-related calls in 2023.
In 2019, the year before the approved casino referendums, the state only saw roughly five casino-related calls a month. Now, data indicates that every month, the helpline "intakes" roughly 33 callers related to casino gaming (including slot machines, table games, and other unspecified casino concerns).
Slot machines by themselves constitute the highest number category of why callers are calling the helpline, with 209 calls in 2023.
“People are reporting problems much earlier. A majority are saying it’s within the last year, that speaks to the type of gambling and that speaks to the repetition of those kinds of gambling, slots and sports betting, people do not need to take breaks, that leads to brain changes and how that accelerates addiction," Hawley said.
The data requested by 13News Now also categorizes the callers based on geography, too.
The highest identified category of callers falls within the "unknown" region, but of the named regions in the Commonwealth, Hampton Roads contains the highest number of identified callers at 160 in 2023.
The next highest region is the "Northern" region with 122 calls in 2023.
If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, you can call the VCPG's confidential and toll-free helpline at 1-888-532-3500.
