Norfolk Construction begins on $750M Casino

The Norfolk Casino’s Jay Smith confirmed the start of construction for this long-awaited project near Harbor Park. Although a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony took place in October 2024 the actual site work began last week.

The new Resort has a 45,000 square foot amenity deck. It also includes 13,000 square feet for meeting space. There are 1,500 slot machines and 50 table games.

Boyd Gaming, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and other casino development partners plan to finish the project by 2027. They announced last month that Virginia Beach’s S.B. Ballard Construction, a Mississippi-based company, and Yates Construction in Mississippi — the two companies who built Rivers Casino Portsmouth — will be leading the resort’s construction.

Boyd plans to open a temporary casino in late 2018, with the permanent facility not opening until 2027. Virginia State Lottery must license and build the temporary casino by November in order to meet the deadline set by the state to allow Norfolk to keep its casino vote for 2020.

Boyd Gaming replaced Yarbrough, the Pamunkey Tribe’s former development partner. Norfolk City Council voted in September to approve a development deal between the city, tribe, and Boyd. The new team dropped the name HeadWaters Resort & Casino.

Boyd Gaming owns 5% of FanDuel Group (a sports betting operator) and operates 28 gaming properties across 10 states.

Three casinos that were approved by Danville, Bristol, and Portsmouth voters in 2020 are already open, and in November of 2024, Petersburg’s voters will approve their own casino referendum. This will pave the way for Cordish Cos.’$1.4 billion live! The Casino & hotel is set to be constructed on an undeveloped site of 100 acres off Interstate 95, in Petersburg. The legislation to build casino in Tysons was stalled at this year’s General Assembly.

Email the Norfolk City Council:
Kenneth Alexander, mayor@norfolk.gov,
Martin Thomas, martin.thomas@norfolk.gov,
Courtney Doyle, courtney.doyle@norfolk.gov,
Mamie Johnson, mamie.johnson@norfolk.gov,
John Paige, john.paige@norfolk.gov,
Thomas Smigiel, thomas.smigiel@norfolk.gov,
Jeremy McGee, jeremy.mcgee@norfolk.gov,
Carlos Clanton, carlos.clanton@norfolk.gov,

Email the Norfolk School Board:
Tiffany Moore-Buffaloe, tiffany.buffaloe@nps.k12.va.us,
Sarah DiCalogero, sarah.dicalogero@nps.k12.va.us,
Tanya Bhasin, tbhasin@nps.k12.va.us,
Adale Martin, amartin@nps.k12.va.us,
Kenneth Paulson, ken.paulson@nps.k12.va.us,
Jodi Slaughter, jodi.slaughter@nps.k12.va.us,
Alfreda Thomas, alfreda.thomas@nps.k12.va.us,