Virginia Casino Revenue Reaches Record High in May as Market Takes Hold
Posted on: June 18, 2025, 12:01h.
Last updated on: June 18, 2025, 09:49h.
- Virginia casino revenue hit a record high in May 2025
- Rivers Portsmouth and Hard Rock Bristol reported record months
- Caesars Virginia remained the top-grossing casino
Virginia casino revenue hit a record high in May as gamblers lost $85.4 million to the state’s three gaming properties.
The Virginia Lottery, which was appointed to have regulatory oversight of the commonwealth’s expanded gambling in 2020, reports that Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol and Rivers Casino Portsmouth both experienced all-time monthly highs in May 2025.
Rivers, which was the first permanent casino facility to open in Virginia in January 2023, reported gross gaming revenue (GGR) of $28.3 million. That topped the casino’s previous best monthly record of $27.8 million set in March.
Hard Rock kept a little more than $23 million of players’ bets, which bested the resort’s previous best gaming month of $21.3 million, also set in March.
Though Caesars Virginia didn’t experience a monthly record, the hotel and casino in Danville maintained its pole position in the state with casino revenue of $34 million. Caesars Virginia’s best month on record was set in March with slot and table game win of nearly $36 million.
The monthly casino activity report excludes retail and mobile sports betting, revenue that will be reported separately later this week.
Tax Benefit Growing
Virginia assesses gaming taxes on a graduated scale. On the first $200 million in GGR won by a casino, the Virginia Lottery collects 18%. For revenue ranging from $200 million to $400 million, the rate increases to 23%, and for GGR upwards of $400 million, the share grows to 30%.
In May, the state received almost $15.4 million, money directed to the Gaming Proceeds Fund.
Six percent to 8% of the monthly tax goes back to the casino’s host city. One percent is allocated to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund and the Family and Children’s Trust Fund. The remaining gaming tax money deposits into the state’s General Fund and is primarily used for budgetary purposes as determined by the legislature.
Virginia’s start to 2025 shows that the state’s commercial casino industry is taking hold.
Hard Rock Bristol opened its permanent resort and casino last November. Caesars Virginia, a joint partnership between Caesars Entertainment and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, opened its permanent resort in December. Rivers is owned and operated by Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming.
Two more casino resorts for Virginia are in the works by way of Petersburg and Virginia.
The Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming are amid construction of a resort casino along the Elizabeth River in Norfolk. Baltimore-based Cordish Companies is in the early stages of building a Live!-branded casino in Petersburg.
Sixth Casino Unlikely
Virginia’s 2020 gaming bill called for five casinos, with one each in Portsmouth, Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, and Richmond. The legislation required a local ballot referendum expressing support from city voters for a casino.
Voters in Richmond twice rejected their casino designation. Lawmakers subsequently allowed the gaming opportunity to move 25 miles south of the state capital to Petersburg where voters overwhelmingly embraced slot machines, table games, and retail sports betting.
Some lawmakers representing Northern Virginia say a casino in Fairfax County would provide the state with the greatest tax benefit and stop the flow of gaming money north to Maryland where casinos operate. At this juncture, however, the odds appear long that the General Assembly will get on board with a casino in Tysons or somewhere else near the nation’s capital.
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