- Caesars Entertainment announced that it is planning to open a temporary Danville casino in mid-2023.
- The development comes after last May’s announcement that the completion of the permanent casino will be delayed from December 2023 to 2024.
- Construction of the permanent casino began last August but the company has experienced delays due to supply chain issues, labor shortages, and other unforeseen market forces.
Caesars Entertainment says it is eyeing to open a temporary casino in Danville in mid-2023. Officials made the statement during the company’s third-quarter earnings call with investors last week.
The company’s plans were confirmed by Danville City manager Ken Larking who told the Danville Register & Bee last week that Caesars is working with the Virginia Lottery to have a temporary casino at the Schoolfield site. If Caesars is putting up a temporary gambling facility, it should be in Schoolfield since that was the location listed in the casino referendum which voters approved in November 2020.
A temporary casino would mean that Caesars would be coming to Danville earlier than expected. According to Larking, the city is more than happy with the development as it brings additional revenue.
Per Larking:
The permanent casino is expected to generate $38 million in tax revenue for the city once it is up and running. But its opening has been delayed from December 2023 to 2024 due to several factors.
Delay in Opening of Danville Casino to 2024
Virginia: Caesars delays opening of Danville casino to 2024 due to supply chain issues, labor shortage https://t.co/J1g4EE2fi0
— Yogonet Gaming News (@YogonetNews) May 6, 2022
Last May, Caesars announced that there will be a delay in the completion of the Danville casino project. In a statement, the company said that the initial December 2023 opening date had become unrealistic due to supply chain issues, labor shortages, and other unforeseen market forces. Because of those, the new targeted opening date of the Danville casino is 2024.
Additionally, Caesars also said that the demolition and cleanup of the former textile mill shop where the casino was to be constructed took longer than expected to finish. That was finally completed last August and the company finally broke ground on the project shortly after.
Despite the delay, Caesars said that it will make good on its promise to make an annual payment of $5 million to the City of Danville in 2023. The payment is part of the development agreement when the company and the city negotiated the casino project. The payment will be made in quarterly installments starting September 2023.
$650 Million Danville Casino Project
The $650 million project is designed to be “a tourism engine and economic driver for Danville and the broader region,” Caesars Entertainment says.https://t.co/wJrkqqTpHK
— FOX5 Las Vegas (@FOX5Vegas) August 11, 2022
The permanent Danville casino is a $650 million project that will boast of a world-class casino floor, a World Series of Poker room, and course, a retail Caesars Sportsbook. The casino will feature more than 1,300 slot machines, 85 live table games, and 24 electronic games.
Among the non-gaming facilities of the Danville, casino are a 500-room hotel, state of the art spa, an outdoor pool, plus name-branded bars and restaurants. The property will also boast of a 2,500-seat live entertainment venue with 40,000 square feet of meeting and convection space.
With world-class amenities, the Caesars Danville casino is expected to become a tourism engine and economic driver not just for the city of Danville but also for the broader region. The project will also boost employment in the area by creating more than a thousand new construction and permanent jobs.
