Virginia: Caesars opens permanent Danville casino, one of its largest properties outside Vegas

Caesars hosted the grand opening ceremony for its permanent Caesars Virginia casino in Danville on Wednesday. The opening, originally set for last week and ultimately delayed to allow for finishing touches on the hotel, featured company and local officials, along with NBA legend Dennis Rodman.

The casino, built from the ground up after two years, seeks to bring a Las Vegas-like experience to Virginia and becomes one of the company's biggest properties outside of Nevada and Atlantic City, boasting 90,000 square feet of gaming space and a 320-room hotel tower.

"It definitely takes a minute to do all that coming from completely using 50 acres and starting from scratch," General Manager Chris Albrecht told WTVD. Caesars says they are also prioritizing local hires, and hopes the new resort will be a boost to the economy.

"We've started with over 400 team members to get to close to 1200. And a lot of them are getting into some really life-changing jobs, life-changing roles, making more money than they ever have. So that's been just exciting and rewarding to see," Albrecht added.

Dennis Rodman placed the ceremonial first bet

Caesars kicked off the big day with a parade starting at Main and Craghead Streets, with NBA legend Dennis Rodman as the grand marshal. The car parade featured race cars and supercars supplied by Virginia International Raceway, Kaizen Autosport and Foreign Cars Italia. Rodman, Caesar, Cleopatra, and Danville Mayor Alonzo Jones rode in the vehicles that stopped at the front of the new resort for the opening ceremony.

Following the ribbon-cutting, guests accessed the new 587,000-square-foot resort to place their bets for the first time. Rodman placed the first ceremonial bet in the new Caesars Sportsbook, betting a $100 five-leg parlay on all five teams he played for in the NBA to win their next game. The celebration was capped off with a fireworks and drone show by Grucci.

City manager Ken Larking told WSET that Danville is expected to rake in about $32 million per year from the permanent casino in gaming taxes and revenue. They've already generated $29 million up to October of this year from the temporary casino since it opened last May. That money goes toward important projects and improvements for the community.

"Helping the schools do better, helping with workforce development, helping with the economic opportunity and quality of life and the things that make the community a great place to live and so to be able for those resources toward activities and help improve the lives of people here in Danville has been pretty cool,” Larking said.

However, Virginia's gain could be North Carolina's loss, as money flows across state lines. "I know it bothers a lot of state lawmakers because when they see a casino, they see revenue. They see revenue that can go into state coffers. It can be used to lower taxes or put more money in different types of programs, and they want that revenue here," ABC 11 quoted NC political strategist Patrick Sebastian.

Opposition from some communities has stalled efforts in the legislature to legalize casinos in North Carolina. "It looked like it was going to happen last year. It was moving very quickly and then all of a sudden it just kind of stopped," Sebastian added.

The permanent Caesars Virginia boasts 90,000 square feet of gaming space, including 1,500 slots, 79 table games, 48 electronic table games, a WSOP poker room, and a Caesars Sportsbook. Additionally, Caesars Virginia is also home to a 320-room hotel tower, 50,000 square feet of meeting and convention space that also serves as a 2,500-seat live entertainment venue.

Further amenities include a full-service spa, pool and a wide variety of dining options, including Ramsay’s Kitchen by multi-Michelin-starred chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay, Dan Dan Noodle, Three Stacks and the 500 Block Food Hall by local developer Rick Barker and local restaurateur Steve Parry.