Caesars Virginia has seen a 75% increase in its number of visitors since the full casino resort opened in December and expects to have more than 2 million visitors in its first year.
“Before opening our permanent resort, we were welcoming about 100,000 guests per month, and many of these guests were first-time visitors to Danville,” Caesars Virginia General Manager Chris Albrecht told the Register & Bee. “Now we are seeing around 175,000 visitors a month.”
Also, the Caesars Virginia resort has had no negative effect on crime in Danville, according to the Danville Police Department.
The casino is on pace to see more than 2 million visits by the end of its first year in operation, Albrecht added.
“We’ve seen new guests become loyal Caesars Virginia customers — planning future trips to Danville — and they are interested in enjoying all that our city has to offer,” he said.
The full Caesars Virginia casino resort opened Dec. 17 after the company operated a temporary Danville Casino tent in the Caesars parking lot in Schoolfield from May 2023 until the opening of the permanent facility.
As for the 320-room hotel at Caesars, it has been booked up on weekends with strong demand during the week, Albrecht said.
“We are driving new guests to the region,” he said. “It’s exciting to see more guests coming to Caesars Virginia for a weekend escape to the region and extending their stay beyond a day trip to the casino.”
According to the latest casino activity report for the month of June from the Virginia Lottery, Caesars Virginia rang up about $30.5 million in gaming revenue. Of that, $23.1 million came from its 1,451 slots and $7.4 million came from its 100 table games.
Caesars Virginia outperformed the state’s other two casinos last month: Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which brought in about $26.4 million, and Hard Rock Bristol, which brought in about $21.4 million, according to the Virginia Lottery.
As for gaming-tax revenues, Caesars Virginia generated about $1.8 million for the city of Danville in June.
Caesars pays an 18% tax rate to the state for its gaming revenues generated. The city of Danville gets a third of that amount back from the state.
From December 2024 through June this year, the casino has netted about $221 million in revenue and resulted in about $13.5 million in gaming-tax revenue for the city of Danville, according to figures from Michael Adkins, the city’s finance director.
In addition, Caesars Virginia has provided about $9.6 million in direct payments to Danville — under an agreement between the city and the company — since December, Adkins said. The city has received about $23.1 million in gaming-tax revenues and direct payments combined from Caesars since December.
Under the agreement, the city gets direct payment of 2.5% of adjusted gross receipts — gross receipts less winnings paid to customers — up to $200 million per year. There are higher percentages as revenues grow.
Adkins said he could not provide separate Caesars Virginia revenue figures from those for the temporary Danville Casino for the month of December 2024.
In addition to gaming taxes and direct payments, the casino has yielded other revenue for the city as well. Danville has collected about $2.5 million in taxes for meals, lodging and tangible property taxes and business licenses, Adkins said.
The city has collected a combined total of $25.7 million in taxes and direct payments from Caesars from December through June, Adkins said.
Solid figures for real estate tax revenues were not available, he said.
“The full resort did not become an assessed parcel until July 2025, so the first full real-estate tax bill will not be generated until November 2025,” Adkins said. “We anticipate the annual real-estate tax to be $4.9 million.”
In addition to the casino and hotel, Caesars Virginia also has its 2,500-seat entertainment and venue center, The Pantheon.
“Entertainment is a big focus at Caesars Virginia and a key driver of what makes us a full-scale resort,” Albrecht said. “We designed The Pantheon to be a best-in-class entertainment venue, home to big names in music and comedy.”
The Pantheon totals 30,000 square feet, including 20,000 square feet of event and pre-function space.
Last year, the Danville City Council tweaked an agreement with the casino operator that moved a planned stand-alone entertainment center into a multipurpose space.
Earlier this month, Gabriel Iglesias performed a sold-out show at the venue. Wynonna Judd and Gary Allan headlined shows in June. Upcoming acts later this year include ZZ Top, Heart, The O’Jays, Clint Black and others.
Resort guests coming in for a show have also enjoyed other amenities the Dan River Region has to offer, Albrecht said.
They have “not only been staying with us and using our facility, but enjoying restaurants, hotels and other amenities around Danville,” he said.
“We have seen thousands of patrons through our first five shows and will have over 20 shows for the seven months The Pantheon will be open in 2025,” Albrecht said.
Caesars Virginia has more than 1,200 employees and the company expects that number to remain, he said.
“We are always recruiting and recently hosted hiring events focused on our table games training program and positions for our banquets and entertainment,” he said. “We anticipate being in this range of team-member count for the time being.”
Impact on crime
Steve Richardson, assistant chief of services with the Danville Police Department, echoed Albrecht’s overall visitation figures for Caesars Virginia. The permanent facility including seven restaurants, bars, spa services and the concert-event venue has brought tens of thousands of visitors to Danville every week, he said.
The resort “has had zero negative impact on crime in Danville as a whole,” Richardson said.
During the full casino’s first full seven months of operation, there has been a total of 83 reported incidents at the resort, he said. That includes nine police-information reports and other non-criminal incidents, he added.
The facility’s opening has brought no violent crime to Danville.
“No crimes of violence occurred at the casino or were attributed to the addition of Caesars Virginia,” Richardson said.
The largest percentage of incidents at the Caesars Virginia property have been disorderly conduct/drunk in public (28 incidents) and larceny (14 incidents), according to figures provided by Richardson.
Other incidents have included small numbers of hit-and-run accidents (seven), simple assault (seven), trespassing (three), drug possession (two), destruction/vandalism (two), indecent exposure (two) and other infractions.
“The impact on reported police incidents was less than a single large retail business,” Richardson said, providing figures during the same seven-month period for 515 Mount Cross Road (Walmart).
Walmart Supercenter at Mount Cross Road had 86 reported incidents from Dec. 17 to July. Most of those — 62 — were for shoplifting.
With the Caesars Virginia project, officials knew there would be an influx of visitors at the property and in the city.
“The anticipated increase in crowds and 24-hour-a-day entertainment were met with pre-planning and partnership between the Danville Police Department and the leadership at Caesars Virginia. Since opening, regular meetings, assessments and reviews have been done to ensure the Danville Police Department and Caesars provide a safe environment for casino visitors with little to no impact on the overall crime for the Danville community.”
In addition, the police department’s internal review of year-to-date crime has shown a double-digit drop in violent crime from January to mid-July 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, Richardson said.
Read the original article here (Danville Register & Bee, John Crane)
