The Sandman Comedy Club at 401 E. Grace St., Va., is preparing to transform itself into a Sandman Casino Bar after being used for various purposes. Michael Sands is reportedly planning to convert a former downtown bank building that hosted night clubs, breweries and comedy clubs into a mini casino.
Place change plan: 슬롯머신
According to Richmond Bizense, Sands plans to set up eight Texas Holdham Poker Tables to host a charity poker tournament. The plan also includes five full tables and a few dartboards, as well as a Keno machine, which will be operated in a 6,000-square-foot space that hosted the Queen of Virginia and its last comedy show on June 25. However, it is known that the level of income was simply too low.
Comedy Club Achieves Low Earnings:
As the same source said, Sands said, “Having a comedy club is like having one screen movie theater in a small town.” Reportedly, while it was too expensive to secure profitable operations, there were too few visits to provide expected revenue. Sands said $20 to $25 is not enough to run a comedy club.
Sands reportedly said, “The cost of comedians has gone up. Their prices are now unreasonably high as they are trying to make up for the money they lost during Covid. And I understand. They lost their money then, but so did we.” “What you end up with is a restaurant/bar that uses comedy to bring people in. If not, you are spending a lot of money to bring people in.”
Find conversion options:
According to Richmond BizSense, these were the reasons Sands considered converting the property into a gaming facility. He is reportedly currently trying to legally host a poker tournament at the venue using the charity game option. Charity games are reportedly regulated by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), which allows nonprofits to run poker and bingo tournaments for fundraising purposes. According to reports, Sands is currently discussing a partnership with a local charity to launch a new venture.
Waiting for regulatory approval:
Regardless of reported changes to the charity game rules, Sands expects to be allowed to host poker tournaments at Sandman Casino Bar, according to sources, as Sands has other similar casinos that are legally operated in the state. He reportedly said, “The state has opened Pandora’s box for Las Vegas-style casinos to enter the state. Once I do, it’s hard to say that I can’t gamble legally in my facility.”
Richmond BizSense reports that Sands already plans to begin converting comedy clubs into mini casinos in the coming weeks to launch gaming facilities in August 2023. Meanwhile, Sands anxiously awaits approval from regulators beginning to roll the dice.