When the temporary Danville Casino opened its doors a year ago, the city was introduced to an entirely new industry. Over the last 12 months more table games and slots have been added, investment levels have increased, partnerships have been formed with local organizations, and most obviously, significant progress has been made on construction of the permanent resort.
The structure of the permanent casino’s hotel tower has been built, complete with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. And steel framing is going up for the anticipated restaurants, meeting space and gaming floor.
Soon, the structure will be weather-tight so interior work can begin, said Chris Albrecht, Caesars Virginia general manager.
“We’ll really start to be able to do a lot more on the interior, and we’ll have a few more hundred workers on a daily basis once they can be inside,” Albrecht said.
The plans now call for a somewhat smaller facility and fewer jobs than what was initially announced, but the permanent resort is still slated to open around the end of the year.
The development agreement between Caesars and Danville requires the project to be completed by Dec. 31, though no official date has been announced. This is an extension from the original deadline identified in the development agreement, which had required the developer to complete the project within two years of obtaining the required construction permits.
In the meantime, the temporary facility is still bringing in thousands of visitors and millions of dollars in gaming tax revenue each month.
Here’s a look back at the first year of casino operations in Danville.
A year in review, by the numbers
In its first 11 months of operation, the Danville Casino generated almost $222 million in gaming revenue, according to reports from the Virginia Lottery. May figures will not be released until mid-June.
It also brought in $13.3 million in gaming tax revenue for the city. The city of Danville also receives direct payments from Caesars, which total about $5.5 million to date, according to the city.
The Danville Casino opened in May 2023 with 740 slot machines, 25 live table games and 28 electronic table games. Today, it offers more than 800 slot machines and 33 live table games. The original staff of 400 employees has increased to about 460.
The casino floor in the full resort will have about 1,400 slot machines and table games spread across 90,000 square feet of space — over twice the size of the 40,000-square-foot temporary facility, which is housed in a semi-permanent tent adjacent to the construction site.
The projected investment also has climbed.
When Caesars was first announced as the operator of Danville’s casino in 2020, the investment amount was set at $400 million. In 2021, it jumped to $500 million and by 2022, when ground was broken on the casino, it had risen to $650.
Last month, the investment amount increased again to $750 million, almost twice the original figure.
The city and Caesars attributed the increase to higher prices of materials post-COVID and to the addition of a parking garage that will feature 1,331 spaces. All told, the resort will offer almost 2,800 total spaces for guests, including the garage, valet and surface parking.
There have been a few other changes to the initial development agreement between Caesars and Danville since it was signed.
Plans for the permanent facility no longer include a designated entertainment venue. Instead, shows and other events will be held in the meeting and convention space, which can seat 2,500 people, Albrecht said.
“We’re going to have fantastic shows,” he said. “Concerts, comedy, boxing, MMA, our World Series of Poker poker tournament, all of that will happen, just in one large multi-purpose space.”
Meetings and business events tend to be held during the work week, Albrecht said, and most of the entertainment events will be booked on weekends.
The 35,000 square feet of meeting space will be increased to 40,000 to accommodate this change in plans.
Other changes in the agreement involve employment and lodging capacity. The contract with the city originally called for 1,300 jobs, but this has since been lowered to a minimum of 900, a reduction attributed to a changed employment landscape after the pandemic.
And though 500 hotel rooms had been discussed at one point, that number has been lowered to 320. This is still consistent with the initial agreement, which required at least 300 rooms.
The Danville City Council signed off on these changes at its May meeting.
Visitation has stayed consistent at about 100,000 guests per month, Albrecht said.
While some residents were concerned that the casino would result in increased crime, that has not been the case, according to Danville Police Department Assistant Chief Henry Richardson.
“We have had no traffic problems or major crime issues related to the opening and operation of the Caesar Danville Casino in its first year of operation,” he said.
Over the last year, police took 54 incident reports. Thirteen were for information only and not related to a crime, Richardson said.
Of the remaining 41, 17 resulted in an arrest or warrant, 11 are still active investigations likely to lead to charges, and one was unfounded, he said. None were violent crimes.
The most common incident reported at the temporary casino has been larceny — theft of winnings vouchers or personal items that were left unattended, Richardson said.
There were 16 reports of larceny at the temporary casino in its first 12 months. Within the same timeframe, there were 217 reports of larceny at Danville’s Walmart Supercenter on Mt. Cross Road, according to police department data.
Richardson also highlighted what he said is a good relationship between Caesars and the police department.
“When the incidents have occurred, Caesars has been a great partner utilizing their technology and security team to identify suspects that lead to arrests and prosecutions,” he said. “Caesars has been a great community addition and partner as we continue to actively plan with the security and leadership to prepare for the grand opening of the full scale Caesars Virginia resort in late 2024.”
Building a talent pipeline
In 2022, Caesars announced that it was putting $500,000 toward the creation of a hospitality and tourism program at Danville’s Averett University.
The program, which is a concentration in the business department, was designed to create a local talent pipeline for the hospitality and tourism industry. About 20 to 25 students are currently enrolled.
Five Caesars employees are in online classes through the Averett program, according to program director Thomas Perugini, and 12 Averett graduates or students work at Caesars.
Next spring, once the casino resort and hotel are fully operational, Averett will offer a practicum class with Caesars.
Ten other college students also are working with Caesars this summer, which is hosting its first summer internship program.
“We spent all of February and March doing a roadshow with different career fairs and job fairs,” Albrecht said. “We sold it as an opportunity to come be part of an operation that hasn’t even opened its doors.”
There was tremendous interest from college students in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, Albrecht said.
“It’s a very robust internship program,” he said. “They’ll learn a lot. They’ll get on the floor here at the temporary facility of course, but they’ll also get to be a part of thinking about what we’re doing for the permanent facility as well.”
Impact on the city
The city manager’s proposed budget projected about $25 million in revenue during the next fiscal year from Caesars. Revenue from lodging and meals taxes also will accrue to the city, though there are no estimates for those additional revenue streams.
About $16.3 million of the $25 million total is expected to come from state-collected gaming tax revenue. The remaining $8.7 million is the local supplement that Caesars Virginia agreed to pay the city as part of its development agreement.
The local supplement is partially determined by casino revenues. The city gets 2.5% of the first $200 million in revenue and then 6% of the next $200 million, increasing from there. The minimum local supplement that Caesars must pay Danville each year is $5 million, which will continue as long as the casino operates.
Danville will use only this funding for ongoing expenses, City Manager Ken Larking said at a March briefing where he presented the city’s proposed budget. These expenses include pay performance increases for city employees and increased health insurance costs for city and school system employees.
The remaining $20 million in revenue is expected, but not guaranteed, he said.
“The thought is that if, for whatever reason, that $20 million didn’t come in, tough decisions would still have to be made, but it wouldn’t affect core services,” Larking said at the briefing.
The city is working with the Investing in Danville Steering Committee, which it established in 2020, to decide how best to use the money from the casino. The committee is composed of residents, stakeholders and community leaders.
Public education, economic development, public safety and quality of life were the early priorities that the committee identified after receiving community feedback.
Projects like the new police department headquarters and the renovation of the White Mill, a former Dan River Mills building that sat empty for decades, were expedited because of the casino revenue stream.
In addition to revenue, part of the goal of the casino operations is to drive activity and tourism in Danville as a whole, Albrecht said. Caesars has developed partnerships with local organizations, like Danville’s baseball teams and lodging options.
“All this change and transformation that we’re doing there to drive more people out to the city to explore what else is going on,” he said.
Many of the casino visitors are still coming to Danville for day trips, though Caesars is starting to increase its use of the area’s hotels.
“We use the Bee and Holbrook for our VIPs, but also other hotels are picking up people who are naturally coming and staying on their own as well,” Albrecht said.
The average stay for VIPs that Caesars hosts is one to two nights, he said.
“We are utilizing a good amount of hotel rooms, and we continue to take our customers out for VIP experience with the different restaurants,” wineries and breweries in the area, Albrecht said.
Cindy Aherron, who works at Linden Rose Boutique, a women’s clothing store about half a mile from the casino, said she’s seen a slight increase in foot traffic since the casino opened.
Once the permanent resort hotel opens and casino guests are in town for longer stays, she said she expects more shoppers. “That’s what we’re waiting on,” she said.
A more noticeable increase has been in car traffic and speeding, she said, which affects street parking for Linden Rose customers.
The city is aware of these traffic issues, and addressing it is one of the goals of its Schoolfield Master Plan, which includes strategies for revitalizing the area.
This year of operations in the temporary facility has prepared both the city and Caesars for full operations in the permanent resort, Albrecht said.
It gave new Caesars employees a chance to train and begin work in a smaller environment, and it also gave customers time to become familiar with the brand and rewards loyalty programs, he said.
“What we’ve been able to learn on top of that is customer preference,” Albrecht said. “That helps guide us for the kind of amenities we’ll put together for them when we move to the permanent facility. It’s been a great learning environment for all those things.”