Urban One’s Casino Aspirations Remain Intact Despite Voter Rejection
Posted on: December 8, 2023, 11:05h.
Last updated on: December 8, 2023, 11:05h.
Urban One is unwavering in its aspirations to own a casino resort.
Urban One is a media conglomerate based in Maryland that owns and runs radio stations and television networks that primarily cater to the Black community. The firm had hoped to build a more than a half-billion integrated resort casino in Richmond, but voters in the Virginia capital twice rejected a citywide ballot referendum needed to authorize the project.
Richmonders narrowly rejected Urban One’s 2021 casino pitch by a 51%-49% vote. The electorate again rejected a similar proposal from Urban One last month but at a more divisive rate of 62%-38%.
Urban One, publicly traded on the Nasdaq, released its third-quarter earnings report this week and met with shareholders and analysts on a call. During the conversation, Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins revealed the media company continues to desire to own a casino.
In March, Urban One divested its stake in MGM National Harbor for $145.5 million, the richest casino in Maryland that’s located just outside the nation’s capital in Oxon Hill. Urban One in 2016 was welcomed by MGM Resorts to make a passive investment in the integrated resort to diversify the ownership structure of the project.
Liggins yesterday affirmed the company’s intention to pursue another casino stake.
Yes, absolutely. It’s a great business,” Liggins said. “We made a lot of money on our MGM investment. We made like 3.5 times our investment.”
Liggins recognizes that the US economy is quite different today than it was when the $1.4 billion MGM National Harbor casino was built and opened in December 2016.
“There is risk. You can overbuild, and interest rates are higher now,” Higgins said.
Formerly known as Radio One, the Silver Spring firm was chosen by Richmond city officials in 2021 as the Virginia capital’s preferred gaming partner. Despite lacking any experience developing and/or operating a casino, the Richmond Resort Casino Evaluation Panel picked Urban One over competing bids from Bally’s Corporation and The Cordish Companies, the latter of which operates Live!-branded casinos in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Richmond’s casino evaluation panel, handpicked by the City Council, sought to provide social equity by selecting Urban One. The proposal was known as ONE Casino + Resort in 2021 and involved a partnership with casino operator Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E). The casino proposal additionally involved more than 50 individual investors, many of whom identified as minorities.
Maryland Opportunity?
Urban One developing a casino in its home state of Maryland, where the company is most known, would be ideal. Maryland’s gaming law restricts the number of casinos to six. However, there are pathways to expand the industry, as state voters have a recent track record of backing gaming expansion questions.
Marylanders passed a referendum that amended the state constitution to allow slot machines at venues in the counties of Anne Arundel, Cecil, and Worcester, as well as a city casino in Baltimore and another on state property in Rocky Gap State Park. Table games with authorized through a subsequent referendum that passed in 2012. That same referendum also included the authorization of a sixth casino, with that license ultimately being awarded to MGM. In 2020, voters further expanded gaming with retail and online sports betting. Efforts to legalize iGaming through yet another gaming referendum are underway. Could Urban One convince state lawmakers to allow a seventh casino in the Old Line State? Purely speculation at this time, but Marylanders seem willing to continue growing its legal gambling options.