Roanoke’s vice mayor opposes placing a casino at the Berglund Center, as does a former mayor.

“At this time, I’m not a supporter of the project,” Vice Mayor Terry McGuire said Tuesday, a week after the mayor and city manager revealed that the city’s analyzing a potential casino project.

“I will reserve my right to change my mind,” McGuire added in a Rambler interview.

McGuire said he accepts that the city could benefit from the potential revenue a casino built at the events center would be expected to generate for municipal coffers. However, he said he’s concerned about the possible negative impacts, which include that it could hook customers on gambling. He also said such a project ought to have at least one Roanoke Valley state legislator backing it. 

Not one supports the plan presently. 

In other developments, the regional tourism chief said he wasn’t briefed on the project and isn’t ready to take a position for or against it. But Landon Howard, who directs Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge, said his board last month discussed the idea of a casino as a strategy to expand tourism, a nearly $1-billion local industry that he said has growth potential if more attractions are built, along with hotel rooms and meeting space. 

One concept would place it in Vinton, Howard said, since an establishment in the town, Rosie’s Gaming Emporium, already offers horse racing wagering, slots and entertainment.  

“Vinton is where gaming currently is,” he said.

A week before the city’s casino announcement, Howard told the City Council that “Vinton has asked us for assistance in pursuing a casino and would like to consider doing that after the election.”

No Roanoke council member commented on Howard’s remarks during the meeting.

But Vinton officials, along with the general manager of Rosie’s, later dispelled that notion.

Town Manager Pete Peters said there is no effort by Vinton to secure a casino license. 

Howard told The Rambler Tuesday that his board members discussed “just a casino in general,” not the wisdom of recruiting one specifically to go in Vinton. He described his statement to Roanoke council as talking in terms of a hypothetical. He had planned to reach out to Vinton’s town manager after he spoke, he said. He had not done so as of Tuesday, he said.

Just where the idea of a Roanoke casino will head next remains vague.

During the Monday council meeting, several speakers, including former Mayor Ralph Smith, spoke against the idea of turning the Berglund Center into a casino and entertainment district. 

Roanoke’s mayor from 2000 to 2004, Smith, a Republican, said Roanoke shouldn’t become “troubled,” which he said is why other Virginia cities that have casinos sought them.

During that same meeting, the council discussed its legislative priorities for next year’s General Assembly session without designating a casino license as one of them.

Peters, Vinton’s manager, said town officials did talk about the possibility of pursuing a full-service casino when the state had an available license, but that later went to Petersburg, Peters said. 

Petersburg voters approved that city’s $1.4-billion casino project last year – and it is scheduled to open next year. 

The town of Vinton would not undertake the tenuous process to get state approval for a license then potentially hold a required voter referendum unless Churchill Downs, the owner of Rosie’s, wanted to do that, Peters said.

A referendum couldn’t happen at least until November of 2026, Peters said.

Right now, the town is happy with its relationship with the Churchill Downs, Peters said.

Rosie’s General Manager Todd Lear said he knows of no plan by Churchill Downs or others to pursue a larger casino.

“We’re still enjoying our relationship with the town,” he said of Rosie’s current operations. He said Rosie’s donated $15,000 to Vinton’s parks just this month.

When asked about what Howard told the Roanoke council, Peters and Lear said they knew nothing about the comments. 

One reason to pursue a larger casino in Vinton could be tied to concern that Rosie’s might lose revenue to the casinos now operating in Bristol and Danville. Peters said there is no evidence so far that that’s happening. The town expects its revenue from Rosie’s to jump by $200,000, to $1.5 million from fiscal year 2025 to 2026, according to budget documents. That will make up about 10 percent of the town’s general fund.

The town has used gaming revenue to offset the losses after a decision to get out of the water business, as well as to prop up capital spending, Peters said.

“So you could say, Rosie’s was very timely and prevented the Town from having to make some very tough decisions, such as reducing services, closing facilities or placing further burden on residents and businesses with tax increases or fees,” Peters wrote in an email. “Rosie’s gave us the ability to not only avoid those closures and reductions, but instead has allowed us to make investments with infrastructure such as stormwater improvements, parks and sidewalks, traffic signals and other community-related investments.”

Town Councilman Keith Liles said he doesn’t believe the town would turn down the opportunity to have a full-scale casino but confirmed there is no effort to pursue that.

Liles said Vinton is making big strides with its first major hotel – a four-story, 94-room Extended StayAmerica Premier Suites being constructed – and other business openings, and its future is bright. The goal is to make Vinton a “to town, not a through town,” he said.