Urban One's Casino Gets Big DC Spotlight
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While Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins is campaigning to transform a rundown part of Richmond, and bring opportunities to the African American Community, there are others not in favor of the One Casino plan. The Washington Post writes, “gambling and equity make strange bedfellows.”
Liggins tells the paper, “We always thought we were in the business of serving the African American community. A big part of lifting up a community is about business opportunities. We viewed gaming for many, many years as one of those opportunities.”
One Casino proposes 100,000 square feet of gaming space, 1800 slot machines, over 100 tables, a poker room, a high-tech sportsbook and a 250 room hotel. Liggins says, if built, the casino and resort will bring Richmond $525 million in new tax revenue. The casino must still pass a November referendum.
Not everyone is in favor of the casino, according to the Post.
Activist Quinton Robbins is campaigning against the project. He tells the paper that casinos offer the flash of easy revenue but bring low-quality jobs and gentrification to communities whose current residents are among the city’s neediest. “It’s not economic justice to extract wealth from a neighborhood. This is about the intersection of white supremacy and poverty.”
Others are praising Urban One’s plan which they say will save the neglected and run-down Southside of Richmond.
Read the full Washington Post article HERE.
