Gov. Spanberger vetoes bills on skill games and Fairfax casino

On Friday, Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed SB661 and SB756, rejecting a bill to legalize electronic skill games across Virginia and a separate measure to authorize a casino in Fairfax County. In a veto statement, she wrote that the state needs a single regulator for all forms of gambling and warned the current patchwork “creates gaps in oversight that threaten the Commonwealth of Virginia’s ability to provide consistent enforcement, prevent illicit activity, and protect all consumers.” She added that legalizing skill games now would “strain an already fragmented system.”

SB661 would have allowed the Virginia Lottery Board to authorize up to 25,000 electronic skill-game machines and imposed a 25% tax on gross profits. The Department of Planning and Budget noted the lottery does not know how many machines are currently available for play; some estimates put the number near 90,000. The fiscal note projected $346.8 million in annual tax revenue if 25,000 machines were approved, based on an assumed average of $152 in daily revenue per machine. Under the bill, 75% of tax proceeds would have gone to the state general fund, 15% to the locality where a machine was located, and the remainder to problem gambling treatment, enforcement and lottery administration.

Spanberger cited data from a 2020 temporary allowance of nearly 9,000 machines, writing that the devices were disproportionately concentrated in communities with higher poverty rates, lower educational attainment and larger Black and Hispanic populations. “The data enumerate the millions of dollars in wagers made resulting in millions of dollars flowing out of these communities,” she wrote, and added that the state lacks an entity to evaluate and mitigate social and economic impacts.

Virginia briefly permitted the machines during the COVID-19 pandemic and then banned them in 2021. Manufacturers and operators won a lower-court injunction that blocked enforcement, but the Virginia Supreme Court reinstated the ban in 2023. A similar legalization effort was vetoed in 2024 by former Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

SB756 would have authorized a casino resort in Fairfax County and would have prevented a local referendum on a casino in Tysons Corner. Spanberger noted Fairfax County leaders opposed a casino and wrote that prescribing a specific location “effectively precludes local input and eliminates local decisions.”

Virginia already has five operating casinos: Hard Rock in Bristol, Caesars in Danville, Boyd/Pamunkey in Norfolk, a Cordish project in Petersburg, and Rivers in Portsmouth. Petersburg received a casino opportunity after Richmond voters rejected two referendums in 2024.

Both bills cleared the General Assembly earlier this month after conference committee agreements. The House approved SB661 by a 57-38 vote and the Senate sent it to the governor 23-15. For SB756, the House voted 55-41 and the Senate concurred 25-13. Lawmakers return to Richmond on April 22, when they can consider overriding the vetoes. Overriding a gubernatorial veto requires a two-thirds majority of the lawmakers present in each chamber.