Hotel Attached to Portsmouth Casino Hits Construction Milestone

Portsmouth, Virginia, is making significant progress in the construction of a marquee hotel attached to its casino.

City officials last week gathered to celebrate reaching the halfway point of construction on the eight-story Landing Hotel, which is attached to the left side (front-facing) of Rivers Casino Portsmouth. The ceremony included the placing of the final steel support structure for the towering hotel and a State of the City speech by Mayor Shannon Glover (I).

The project is expected to be completed within a year and to open in early 2027.

Portsmouth casino gets a new hotel

The impending opening of the hotel has created lots of anticipation throughout the local area. 

“This hotel is a part of the vision that we’ve had from day one,” Glover said. “It increases opportunities for lodging in our city. People can stay over, they can have an experience, more than just coming in and then not having a place to go, and going back home.”

Portsmouth, as the name suggests, is a port city in southeastern Virginia along the Atlantic Ocean. It is home to approximately 95,000 people and is adjacent to Norfolk and near Newport News.

Portsmouth’s population has declined 2.3 percent since the 2020 Census, and it often loses business to its prominent neighboring cities. The hope is that the casino and hotel will help reverse that trend and attract more business to the area.

“[A] world-class hotel destination [is being built], and today, we see the vision literally rising into our skyline,” said Brian Donahue, director of Portsmouth Economic Development. “This will position Portsmouth as a premier entertainment, hospitality and tourism destination for the entire Hampton Roads region.”

He also noted the historical significance of the hotel, which will serve as the landmark of the casino’s campus.

“We haven’t had an eight-story building rise in our city in quite some time,” said Donahue. “I think it’s been decades since this has happened here in Portsmouth, but I can assure you there’s going to be many more to come.”

Outlook and expectations

A strong amount of investment has gone into the project — about $65 million worth.

While the cost ran developers eight figures, it created an estimated 1,200 jobs for local workers. It will also result in about 60 permanent jobs once the hotel opens in full, supplementing the attached casino operations.

Rivers Casino Portsmouth — owned by Rush Street Gaming — opened on Jan. 23, 2023. It was Virginia’s first and only full-service permanent casino at the time and currently offers live-dealer table games, slot machines, and more common casino attractions.

Amid Virginia's rise into a strong gaming market, aided by the rapid growth of sports betting, the state has now authorized five casinos in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Petersburg, and Portsmouth.

The Portsmouth casino is currently rivaled by the crosstown Norfolk casino, which opened a temporary location on Nov. 7, 2025, and is expected to open its permanent location in late 2027. 

Although Norfolk is much larger than Portsmouth, with roughly 230,000 residents, the eight-story hotel and its close proximity should help Rivers Casino Portsmouth remain competitive. 

The casino generated approximately $316.4 million in adjusted gaming revenue in 2025, up 2.2 percent from the total reported in 2024.