DANVILLE, Va. (WFXR) – Excitement levels were through the roof outside Caesar’s Virginia Casino. After more than two years of hard work to get ready for this day, opening day finally arrived.
Hundreds of people waited outside, getting ready for the doors to officially open.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Ambler Irby, a local visitor to the casino, said. “I never thought our area, which we’re from the Alta Vista area, would get something like this so close, and we’re hoping for a great music venue inside too.”
Festivities began Tuesday morning with a parade through the city, which ended in front of the casino doors. Officials shared their remarks in a reception following the parade.
After everyone got a chance to speak, it was time to cut the ribbon, and officially open Caesar’s Virginia to the public.
“The entire team and myself, we couldn’t be more excited to finally get here and welcome all of our guests in the community to Caesar’s Virginia,” the casino’s general manager Chris Albrecht said. “It’s been a long time coming, a lot of hiring, a lot of training, a lot of getting our spaces ready, but we can’t wait to open our doors.”
(Photo Credit: Michael Doti)
The casino received a guest appearance from five-time NBA champion Dennis Rodman. He was making his first trip to the River City.
In his partnership with Caesar’s Virginia, he got to make the ceremonial first bet at Caesar’s Sportbook. It was a parlay on all the teams he played for to win.
“(Rodman) talked about how unique our community is,” Danville mayor Alonzo Jones said. “To see the wonderful things, they were saying about our community, the best thing I got from Rodman was he says, ‘Mr. Mayor, I’ll be back.'”
Rodman’s along with all other contributions to the casino, are expected to go back into the community.
“So far we’ve done a lot of stuff with education,” Jones said. “We’ll continue to do things with education, and it’s because of Caesar’s we’re able to do these things.”
The festivities concluded Tuesday night with a fireworks and drones show outside the facility.