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Confidence high among supporters of Rosie's in Danville

Voters will either decide to allow or not allow gaming establishment to open

DANVILLE, Va. – This time next year, you could see a seemingly endless amount of people filing in to Rosie's Gaming Emporium in Danville.

On Tuesday, voters in Danville will go to the polls to decide if they want to allow Rosie's to open or not.

"I support it because I believe it can bring a lot of revenue back into the city," said Danville resident Mary Glass.

Glass has been knocking on doors throughout the city, trying to drum up support.

"After I let them know what it is, they'll be, like, 'Well, I'll think about voting for it,'" Glass explained.

Danville resident Susan Cox, however, believes Rosie's is too much of a gamble.

"When the laws change for that to be able to be here, other things come with it that are more negative. The jobs are great, but I feel like (there are) other ways to bring jobs to Danville that'll be more positive all the way around," Cox said.

Earlier this year, Rosie's opened in Vinton.

In September alone, it netted the town about $53,000 in tax revenue.

Mark Hubbard, a spokesperson for Rosie's parent company, said Danville's numbers are expected to be similar.

"The other real benefit, we think, for Danville is a lot of those dollars will be coming from North Carolina," Hubbard said. "So you'll have people from out-of-state bringing revenues into Danville, and not only will they visit Rosie's, but they'll stop and fill their gas tanks, they may spend the night, and they may choose to visit other attractions in Danville."

Danville is also one of three cities in which the General Assembly is considering allowing a casino to be built.

A casino is projected to create thousands of jobs and have an economic impact in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

"I think the general consensus is if Danville's going to be considered for anything else down the road in the future, they're going to need to first show their support for this referendum on Tuesday," Hubbard said.

If the referendum passes, Rosie's would likely open sometime next year.

Potential locations are being scouted, but Hubbard declined to say where.


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