Portsmouth Tourism Blossoming Since Rivers Casino Opened in January 2023

Posted on: February 23, 2025, 11:18h. 

Last updated on: February 23, 2025, 11:18h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Rivers Casino Portsmouth opened in January 2023
  • The casino has aided Portsmouth’s renaissance
  • A hotel could be coming to the casino

The City of Portsmouth has seen an economic boom since Rivers Casino opened in January 2023.

Rivers Casino Portsmouth Virginia hotel rooms
Rivers Casino Portsmouth has played a significant role in the city’s economic comeback. A hotel is likely to come to the gaming destination in the coming years. (Image: Rivers Casino Portsmouth)

Rush Street Gaming, a Chicago-based gaming operator, opened Rivers Casino Portsmouth adjacent to the Tidewater Community College campus a little more than two years ago. The $340 million project has been a winning bet for Rush and the city.

In 2023, the casino with 1,450 slot machines, 60 table games, and a BetRivers Sportsbook generated gross gaming revenue (GGR) of approximately $250 million. The casino’s win climbed almost a quarter last year to $310 million.

The casino has benefited the city greatly with about $35 million in local tax revenue. The destination, which also includes a 3,000-seat entertainment center that attracts headlining acts, a Topgolf Swing Suite, meeting and conference facilities, and six dining options, has also helped Portsmouth attract new visitors to the Hampton Roads region.

Along with a newly expanded go-kart facility called LeMans Karting, new restaurant openings, and additional cruise ships docking in Norfolk, Portsmouth Tourism Director Keith Toler said the city has experienced a renaissance. It’s created a welcomed problem, however, with a need for more hotel rooms.

Portsmouth Hotel Rooms

Being the only commercial casino with slots and live dealer table games along the east coast from Washington, D.C., through the Carolinas and Georgia, Rivers Casino Portsmouth has attracted many gamblers from the southeastern states. Finding a place to stay nearby has been a challenge for many patrons.

Portsmouth is home to fewer than 500 hotel rooms. For comparison’s sake, neighboring Norfolk has almost 1,800 guestrooms.

We don’t have enough hotel rooms. It is a good problem, but it is a problem,” Toler told The Virginian-Pilot. Toler explained that a conference in March required 70 hotel rooms in Norfolk.

When the Portsmouth Economic Development Authority agreed to designate Rush Street Gaming as the city’s casino partner, the terms did not include a hotel requirement. Rush has a lengthy track record of not wanting to build on-site hotels at its casinos.

Rush opened Rivers Casino Des Plaines in Illinois and Rivers Casino Pittsburgh and Philadelphia without hotels. The company opened a hotel at Rivers Pittsburgh more than a decade after the casino took its first bet. In Philadelphia, Rivers last year partnered with a hotel roughly 13 years after the casino doors opened.

Rivers Portsmouth Hotel

Rush has no plans to build a hotel in Portsmouth. But its hand could be forced in the coming years.

Rush’s 2019 agreement with the City of Portsmouth mandates that the company “must commence development of a Hotel and Conference Center within one year” of meeting certain revenue conditions.

The terms initiate a hotel project if Rivers Casino Portsmouth generates gross gaming revenue of $175 million or more in a 12-month span or $250 million in a two-year period while “a casino located within 15 miles” is also operating.

Boyd Gaming is underway with the construction of a casino in Norfolk just a handful of miles away. The $750 million casino resort, which will include a 200-room hotel, is expected to open in late 2027.