Virginia's $600M Petersburg Casino Tower Tops Off
Developers topped off the 12-story hotel tower at Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia in Petersburg on October 8, with state and local officials joining The Cordish Companies and co-developer Bruce Smith Enterprise to mark the construction milestone, Casino.org reported. The $600 million permanent resort remains on schedule for a late 2027 grand opening, according to the developers.
What's actually being built
The permanent facility, rising next to Interstate 95 at Wagner Road, is planned as a 445,000-square-foot destination with a 200-room hotel tower, a resort pool, spa, and fitness center. Developers also described plans for 20 dining and beverage concepts and a 70,000-square-foot multipurpose event venue. Once open, the casino floor is expected to hold more than 1,600 slot machines, 70 table games, a 35-table poker room, and a full sportsbook.
Cordish and Bruce Smith — the NFL Hall of Famer and Virginia native who is co-developing the project — have operated a temporary pavilion-tent casino in Petersburg since late January 2026, running 926 slot machines and 32 live dealer tables while the permanent resort is built. That interim venue generated $14.2 million in gross gaming revenue in August alone, pushing it past $100 million in year-to-date casino win.
Why it matters
Developers project the completed resort will generate $2.8 billion in regional economic impact and $504 million in total tax revenue over its first decade, including $240 million earmarked for the city of Petersburg specifically, plus roughly 1,600 permanent jobs. Cordish has said it plans to follow the casino's opening with an additional $800 million mixed-use expansion adding housing, office space, retail, a grocery store, and public park space to the site — a sign of how much the project's footprint is expected to grow beyond the casino itself. For bettors and casino visitors in the Mid-Atlantic, it's one more large regulated property set to open in a region that already includes Cordish-operated casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania.