Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for interstate commerce, but for the life of me I can’t understand why, when it comes to trade between North Carolina and Virginia, it always has to be a one-way highway. During Prohibition, for example, North Carolinians had to drive across the state line to buy liquor. Later in the century, we had to drive up to the Old Dominion to buy lottery tickets, cheaper gas, and wager on horse races. In recent times we also had to travel into Virginia to buy marijuana. And over the past year and a half, those of us in the Piedmont have gotten into our cars and driven to Danville to play blackjack, poker, craps, and slots, first in a temporary casino, and now in a permanent facility which opened on Dec. 17. All of this historic one-way traffic has put millions of North Carolina dollars into Virginia’s coffers while our state legislators continue to drag their feet on creating new revenue streams from non-traditional sources.
Yes, Cherokee’s gambling resort has been up and running for a while, but Caesar’s Danville complex has all the same Vegas-style amenities and is much more convenient to the Triad. That’s why it’s not surprising that the Danville parking lot is always filled with cars from North Carolina, and that brings me to the point of this column.
In 2020, the Virginia legislature identified five possible cities that could establish casinos providing that people in those localities held referenda and voted to allow gambling in their back yard. Those five cities were Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Richmond. Residents of Bristol, Danville, and Portsmouth approved casino gambling, Norfolk is still working on their project, and Richmond voters rejected gambling within city limits, giving way to Petersburg to launch its own project. What’s most important to note is that the Virginia General Assembly only selected localities that were economically distressed, and that’s something that our elected officials in the Piedmont Triad should consider.
Though our three largest Triad cities have relatively strong economies, several counties in our immediate area are, by definition “economically distressed.” That is the conclusion of the North Carolina Department of Commerce whose most recent ranking of 100 counties identified dozens of distressed areas, including three within the Piedmont Triad region, those being Randolph, Rockingham, and Surry.
If our General Assembly followed Virginia’s lead and designated five economically distressed counties to hold referenda on casino gambling, it stands to reason that one of them would be in the Piedmont, say for instance, in Surry or Randolph. A casino in Mount Airy would make sense because of its close proximity to both the Triad and southern Virginia, so we could actually draw gamblers from the Old Dominion. On the other hand, Randolph has lots of land available and can draw patrons from the entire region. And while we’re mentioning that county, the wild card in the deck could be High Point, a small sliver of which is actually located in Randolph, therefore, a casino could theoretically be located in or adjacent to the furniture city. In that case, Triad area residents who now drive an hour to Danville to gamble, could roll the dice 15 minutes from home. It also means that the Piedmont would gain over a thousand new jobs and the state would accrue at least another $40 million dollars per year in revenues that could be used for everything from teacher pay and school security, to infrastructure projects.
Interstate commerce should be a two-way street, and building five more casinos in North Carolina could level the playing field with Virginia.
Piedmont Triad Deserves a Casino
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for interstate commerce, but for the life of me I can’t understand why, when it comes to trade between North Carolina and Virginia, it always has to be a one-way highway. During Prohibition, for example, North Carolinians had to drive across the state line to buy liquor. Later in the century, we had to drive up to the Old Dominion to buy lottery tickets, cheaper gas, and wager on horse races. In recent times we also had to travel into Virginia to buy marijuana. And over the past year and a half, those of us in the Piedmont have gotten into our cars and driven to Danville to play blackjack, poker, craps, and slots, first in a temporary casino, and now in a permanent facility which opened on Dec. 17. All of this historic one-way traffic has put millions of North Carolina dollars into Virginia’s coffers while our state legislators continue to drag their feet on creating new revenue streams from non-traditional sources.
Yes, Cherokee’s gambling resort has been up and running for a while, but Caesar’s Danville complex has all the same Vegas-style amenities and is much more convenient to the Triad. That’s why it’s not surprising that the Danville parking lot is always filled with cars from North Carolina, and that brings me to the point of this column.
In 2020, the Virginia legislature identified five possible cities that could establish casinos providing that people in those localities held referenda and voted to allow gambling in their back yard. Those five cities were Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Richmond. Residents of Bristol, Danville, and Portsmouth approved casino gambling, Norfolk is still working on their project, and Richmond voters rejected gambling within city limits, giving way to Petersburg to launch its own project. What’s most important to note is that the Virginia General Assembly only selected localities that were economically distressed, and that’s something that our elected officials in the Piedmont Triad should consider.
Though our three largest Triad cities have relatively strong economies, several counties in our immediate area are, by definition “economically distressed.” That is the conclusion of the North Carolina Department of Commerce whose most recent ranking of 100 counties identified dozens of distressed areas, including three within the Piedmont Triad region, those being Randolph, Rockingham, and Surry.
If our General Assembly followed Virginia’s lead and designated five economically distressed counties to hold referenda on casino gambling, it stands to reason that one of them would be in the Piedmont, say for instance, in Surry or Randolph. A casino in Mount Airy would make sense because of its close proximity to both the Triad and southern Virginia, so we could actually draw gamblers from the Old Dominion. On the other hand, Randolph has lots of land available and can draw patrons from the entire region. And while we’re mentioning that county, the wild card in the deck could be High Point, a small sliver of which is actually located in Randolph, therefore, a casino could theoretically be located in or adjacent to the furniture city. In that case, Triad area residents who now drive an hour to Danville to gamble, could roll the dice 15 minutes from home. It also means that the Piedmont would gain over a thousand new jobs and the state would accrue at least another $40 million dollars per year in revenues that could be used for everything from teacher pay and school security, to infrastructure projects.
Interstate commerce should be a two-way street, and building five more casinos in North Carolina could level the playing field with Virginia.