Church opposes casino in bristol

In September, developers announced their intention to create a casino resort in Bristol, Virginia.

The object of 19 hectares should be located on the site of the Bristol Mall shopping center, which has been empty since 2017. The casino-resort will provide residents with additional jobs, as well as become a new source of income in the region. However, representatives of the church are not satisfied with the prospect of organizing gambling in this territory.

Protest

Last Sunday evening, October 21, hundreds of people gathered in Cumberland Square to protest the opening of the casino. The organizers were representatives of the Baptist organizations from the: Belle Meadows, Tennessee Avenue and Victory churches, as well as the Chapel of Brotherhood spiritual center.

Pastors of churches are confident that the new casino and gambling will not bring anything good either to the city or to the region as a whole. On the contrary, gambling, in their opinion, will negatively affect the economy. However, the developers have their own point of view.

Clyde Stacy and Jim McGlotlin plan to create a casino resort, which will be located gambling sites, a hotel and a conference center. Initially, the project will offer local residents about 2,000 jobs, and then over the next seven years, this number will increase to more than 5,000.

General Assembly Decision

Last month, the city council and the city school board voted to approve the plan, thereby expressing their support for the project. However, the final decision rests with the General Assembly of Virginia. Before the project is further developed, the regulator will have to legalize gambling in 2019.

Meanwhile, the sports betting sector is actively developing in the United States. Only the first week after the legalization of sports betting in West Virginia brought more than $ 600,000 to operators.