Rosie's Gaming Emporium is a chain of gambling parlors in the U.S. state of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, owned by Churchill Downs, Inc. and affiliated with its

Colonial Downs Colonial Downs is a Race track, racetrack located in New Kent County, Virginia adjacent to Interstate 64, halfway between Richmond, Virginia, Richmond and Williamsburg, Virginia, Williamsburg. The track conducted Thoroughbred flat racing and Stand ...

racetrack. The Rosie's brand was established in 2019. As of 2023, there are seven Rosie's locations throughout Virginia, including a parlor at Colonial Downs in New Kent; five standalone parlors in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, Emporia,

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, a city in the United States * Richmond, London, a town in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town ...

, and Vinton; and a Rosie's Game Room in Collinsville within a

Quality Inn Quality Inn is an American multinational chain of hotels based in Rockville, Maryland. It is a subsidiary of Choice Hotels which has operations in more than 40 countries. Quality Inn is the founding brand of Choice Hotels International with mor ...

hotel. A $389-million Rosie's property called The Rose Gaming Resort is under construction in Dumfries. Rosie's parlors offer

off-track betting Off-track betting (or OTB; in British English, off-course betting) is sanctioned gambling on greyhound racing or horse racing outside a race track. U.S. history Before the 1970s, only the state of Nevada allowed off-track betting. Off-track bet ...

and

historical horse racing Historical horse racing (HHR), originally known as Instant Racing, is an electronic gambling product that allows players to bet on replays of horse races or dog races that have already been run, using terminals that typically resemble slot machi ...

machines that resemble slot machines and allow betting on archived horse races. They do not feature any table games or traditional

slot machine A slot machine, fruit machine (British English), poker machine or pokie (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. A slot machine's standard layout features a screen disp ...

History

The background of Rosie's can be traced to 1992, when Virginia authorized up to six off-track betting (OTB) parlors to be operated by the state's yet-to-be-built horse track, subject to local referendum in each city or county. The first OTB parlor opened in 1996, ahead of Colonial Downs's opening in 1997. In 2004, the number of allowed parlors was increased to ten. In 2014, Colonial Downs closed and ended its OTB operations. In 2018, Virginia enacted a law to authorize historical horse racing machines at Colonial Downs and its OTB parlors, in an effort to make it economically viable to reopen the track. The Virginia Racing Commission subsequently adopted regulations capping the total number of machines in the state at 3,000. The first Rosie's location was opened at Colonial Downs in New Kent on April 23, 2019, with 600 machines. Three standalone Rosie's locations opened later in 2019, with the Vinton location opening on May 9, the

location on July 1, and the

location on October 29. These first parlors were opened in localities where voters had previously approved off-track betting. Voters in

approved off-track betting in November 2019, giving Rosie's access to the populous

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

market. Construction on the fifth Rosie's Gaming Emporium in Dumfries began in 2020, and the location opened on January 8, 2021. Later that year, on July 22, Rosie's opened its sixth location, a 37-machine parlor at a

hotel in Collinsville, branded as Rosie's Game Room. In 2022 Colonial Downs's parent company,

Peninsula Pacific Entertainment Peninsula Pacific Entertainment (P2E) is a casino gaming company based in Los Angeles. It began operations in 1999, doing business through a subsidiary, Peninsula Gaming. Its holdings grew to five properties, until 2012, when Peninsula Gaming was ...

, sold the bulk of its assets, including Rosie's and Colonial Downs, to Churchill Downs, Inc. A seventh location in Emporia opened on September 25, 2023.

The Rose Gaming Resort

On February 15, 2021 a proposal was revealed by Colonial Downs for a $389 million Rosie's-branded gaming resort called The Rose Gaming Resort, which would stand on the site of the Potomac Landfill in Dumfries and be the only gaming resort in

. The Dumfries Town Council approved the project on September 21, 2021. Construction of the resort began in January 2022 as the landfill closed, with plans to open in late 2023 and total completion of the two phases expected in 2026. The resort will feature a 50,000-sq-ft gaming facility, 305 hotel rooms, 8 restaurants, a theater, and

conference room A conference hall, conference room, or meeting room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences and meetings. Room It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even ...

s, with the remaining unused 79 acres being converted into a park. The $460 million facility which includes a gaming floor featuring 1,650 slots-like betting machines, had a soft launch on Wednesday, October 23, according to Dumfries Mayor Derrick R. Wood. Since The Rose is associated with horse racing, like Rosie’s other gaming establishments, it includes an off-track betting room open seven days a week, allowing patrons to place bets on live horse races. A grand opening event and ribbon-cutting is planned for Thursday, November 7. The resort is projected to generate $35.5 million in annual tax revenue, which will be split between Dumfries,

Prince William County Prince William County lies beside the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 482,204, making it Virginia's second most populous county. The county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part ...

, the state of Virginia and the state racing commission. The town of Dumfries is expected to get about 25% of the tax dollars generated, Wood said.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://rosiesgaming.com/, Rosie's Gaming Emporium 2019 establishments in Virginia Gambling in Virginia Companies based in Virginia