No really meant no. Voters in Richmond rejected an Urban One casino two years ago by a whisker. Yesterday they buried it in a landslide. As of midnight, what was expected to be a tight race was a rout, with pro-casino forces only mustering 38% of the vote. Late polling had shown the casino ballot initiative trailing by two points. Why the dramatic, 10-point shift in the race? Was it the NASDAQ delisting of Urban One? Was it annoyance at being asked to go through a do-over campaign?
It was probably thanks to the terminal hoof-in-mouth disease suffered by Urban One, whose on-air personalities descended gleefully into the gutter, tarring themselves in the racist, anti-semitic filth they intended with which to besmirch their opponents. It was probably (and we’re not going out on a limb here) the vilest campaign ever conducted on behalf of a casino and we hope we never see the like of it again.
Caught in the crossfire was Churchill Downs, which was propping up Urban One’s ropey finances. Despite being the power behind the throne, CEO Bill Carstanjen failed to keep his frontmen on-message, namely that Churchill Downs was bringing good jobs and wages to Richmond, along with tax revenues. Nope. He blew it and has to shoulder a fair measure of the blame. CHDN shares will surely take another pummeling in the morning, not least because a slot parlor intended for Manassas was drop-kicked by 59% of the local electorate. It was a rotten election cycle for the company, no two ways about it.
Meanwhile, you can take those handsome renderings of Richmond Grand Resort & Casino and throw them in the nearest dumpster. RIchmond Mayor LeVar Stoney (D) carried enough water for it to bloat a camel and if he hopes to have a political future, he’ll put some distance between himself and this debacle. He’s had two bites of the apple. There will not be a third. While the Lege has been so far unable to place the fifth and final Virginia casino license with Petersburg, they’re under no obligation to put it anywhere.
The Cavalier State is authorized to host five casinos, no locations specified. If the voters want it, that is. And until popular support is manifest, lawmakers perhaps ought to let this issue lie for a few election cycles. Not every city is cut out to have a casino and that’s proven true of Richmond. As for Urban One and its Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, they are cordially invited to not let the doorknob hit them on the way out of business.
To bad- it would be awesome to have a real casino in Richmond. Sounds more like this was a local issue with some unsavory operators being told to hit the road.
Thanks to the on-air remarks by “Famous” Brown (I’d never heard of him before), the pollsters have a reasonable excuse for once for why they were so far off on the Richmond vote.