Caesars Virginia Casino in Danville to Open Before Year’s End

Posted on: October 30, 2024, 08:44h. 

Last updated on: October 30, 2024, 10:07h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Caesars Virginia in Danville will open its 90K-square-foot casino floor with more than 1,300 slot machines, 85 live dealer table games, 24 electronic tables, a World Series of Poker Room, and a Caesars Sportsbook before 2024 closes.

Officials with Caesars and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI), the co-developers and owners of the $750 million project, revealed this week that the casino will open sometime in December. An exact date is forthcoming.

Caesars Virginia occupies the former Dan River Inc.’s textile campus, which served as the economic engine of the city for over 100 years. The apparel and fabrics manufacturing company was bought out by an India-based conglomerate in 2006, and its operations were moved overseas.

Resort Opening Forthcoming 

While Caesars Virginia will open its permanent casino space in December, company reps say the resort and hotel won’t be ready until the spring of 2025. The 320-room hotel is complemented by a full-service spa, resort pool, 2,500-seat live entertainment venue, and 50K square feet of meeting and convention space.

Caesars is also bringing a celebrity restaurateur to the Virginia-North Carolina border town with Gordon Ramsay. Ramsay’s Kitchen will plate up all of the restaurant’s most famous dishes, including the British chef’s signature beef wellington.

Caesars Virginia will include several other restaurants, plus several upscale lounges and bars.

Caesars Virginia is set to become the third permanent casino to open in Virginia following Rivers Casino Portsmouth in January 2023 and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol next month on November 14.

Construction on a casino resort in Norfolk broke ground on Wednesday. Voters in Petersburg will decide if they will become a fifth casino host next month during the 2024 election.

Regional Rebound

Caesars Virginia is Caesars Entertainment’s largest investment in the regional gaming space in years. The company’s $750 million bet on Danville comes with considerable risk after the company reported Tuesday that its regional operations — defined as casinos outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City — saw earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) tumble 13% in the third quarter to $498 million.

Caesars officials blamed tough year-over-year comparisons and “peak construction disruption” in New Orleans, where the company invested $325 million to renovate, expand, and rebrand Harrah’s to Caesars.

Looking ahead, Caesars brass is optimistic about its regional segment, as Danville opens its permanent casino, and later, resort and hotel, and Caesars New Orleans becomes a construction-free destination.

As we look toward 2025, we will have tailwinds in New Orleans and Virginia that start to offset some of these competitive impacts in regional. So, we feel very good about the way ’25 looks versus the last two quarters in regional for us,” said Caesars CEO Tom Reeg.

During the company’s call on Tuesday, Reeg said the Danville casino pavilion tent slots are delivering the largest win per position per day “in our system.” But he says once the permanent casino opens, there will be almost double the number of gaming positions, which will create “significantly more expense.”