St. Petersburg tells Virginia lawmakers that Bally's will be its casino partner before choosing Cordish
The St. Petersburg City Council announced The Cordish Companies as its casino development partner Wednesday night.This announcement came as a surprise to many as the City of Virginia recently completed a Request for Proposal (RFP) and appears to have begun the bidding process.
St. Petersburg officials faced criticism in 2022 when the commission appeared to handpick Cordish, the Baltimore-based company that develops casinos and entertainment districts across the country under the Live! brand. run. St. Petersburg promised more transparency this time around, but evidence uncovered by the Virginia Mercury suggests much of the process was done behind closed doors.
A Mercury News investigation into the matter uncovered a letter signed by St. Petersburg City Manager John Altman Jr. to Bally's Corporation notifying the Rhodes-based company that The island state's casino companies will be selected to participate in the St. Petersburg project. However, the letter was never sent to Barrie and was only forwarded to the Virginia General Assembly.
A spokesman for the St. Petersburg City Council told the media group that the letter was written at the request of state lawmakers, who said the casino bill designating the city for a casino license would not have been implemented without the involvement of such a developer.
Transparency Issue
In an unsent letter to Bally's Casino, Altman wrote about the city's intention to work with the casino company.
"This decision by the St. Petersburg City Council is the result of an extensive review process," Altman wrote. Altman signed the document on April 17.
A week later, Peterborough announced Cordish as its casino partner. City officials did not speak to the media at Wednesday night's meeting.
The City Council unanimously passed a resolution in support of Cordish, declaring Barrie to be only a temporary option.
On April 16, 2024 (one day before SB628 was considered and passed), the City Manager’s Office received a Letter of Intent to continue Bally’s as the City’s preferred casino gaming operator, requesting that the City sign the Letter of Intent resolution stating, “This bill will be rejected or indefinitely”. Bill SB628 would designate Petersburg as a casino opportunity.
“In order for the bill to move forward in the General Assembly, the Manager signed the MOU but only returned it to the original sender (rather than Barrie) without the Council formally endorsing or authorizing the City Manager to implement the MOU.” . "
The resolution further states that two independent consultants who reviewed the RFP concluded that Cordish proposed the best casino design. Bally confirmed to Mercury that it never received a letter of intent from Altman.
Questions to be answered
It's unclear why Petersburg didn't simply designate Cordish as its interim casino partner as state lawmakers pushed to sign the memorandum of understanding. Cordish remains interested in building a $1.4 billion mixed-use project in Peterborough anchored by a resort called Live! will be carried. The Virginia Casino and Hotel has been open for more than two years.
While there's no concrete evidence to support this claim, Peterborough's initial reliance on Bally's may have been the city's attempt to show that it thoroughly reviews every RFP and doesn't reduce its options to Cordish again.
Bally's may still have a long way to go in Peterborough, as the company faces financing issues as it builds its $1.1 billion Chicago Downtown Integrated Resort Casino. Bally's has suffered multiple credit rating downgrades recently and is facing a takeover attempt by hedge fund Standard General.
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Source: www.casino.org
