Summary:
- Norfolk City Council approved a lease with Boyd Gaming, allowing construction work on the new casino to begin.
- An interim casino with 130 slot machines is set to open by November 15, bringing 75 jobs.
- The full casino, expected by 2027, will create about 850 jobs and boost the local economy.
Norfolk’s long-discussed and much-anticipated casino project is finally moving forward after years of delays and uncertainty. City leaders have officially approved a lease agreement with Boyd Gaming, clearing the way for construction to begin on the long-awaited development in Virginia.
Ron Bailey, general manager for Boyd Gaming’s Norfolk project, said the company is determined to see this through after other developers failed to bring it to fruition.
We wouldn’t be involved with this project if we didn’t think we could get it across the finish line on time. This is just the beginning, but there’s something really special coming to the community that I know everyone’s going to be able to rally behind and be proud of.
The Norfolk City Council’s approval on Tuesday allows Boyd Gaming to use parts of the land near the construction site for parking and storage. The first step will be opening an interim casino this November, a condition of the city’s agreement.
The temporary venue must open by November 15, a deadline that Bailey said they were entirely on track to meet.
New Jobs, Incoming
The interim casino will feature approximately 130 real money slots and is expected to create around 75 jobs in the area. It’s meant to give residents a small taste of what’s coming while construction continues on the permanent resort.
Bailey said crews have already begun laying the foundation for the full-scale casino, which is expected to open by late 2027.
There’s a lot of work happening. A lot of concrete piles are going into the ground already. We have hundreds and hundreds of those, getting the foundation together. So it’s well underway.
Boyd Gaming has partnered with the Pamunkey Indian Tribe to complete the project, which has been in discussion since 2019 but repeatedly stalled due to changes in developers and plans. Bailey said this time, the team is fully committed to finishing what was started.
The permanent casino will create approximately 850 jobs and generate new tax revenue for the city, making many locals’ dreams of a new entertainment and economic hub in Norfolk finally a tangible reality.
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