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As he begins his final year in office, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin urged the Virginia General Assembly to work with him on a variety of issues where they can find common ground, including passing a bill to establish a new gaming commission.
“We must take action to enable the creation of the Virginia Gaming Commission to consolidate the regulatory oversight of our vast gaming ecosystem under one entity,” Youngkin said during his State of the Commonwealth speech on Monday (January 13).
As pending before the state's General Assembly, Senate Bill 1287 would establish the Virginia Gaming Commission as an independent state agency to oversee and regulate all forms of legal gambling in the state except for the Virginia Lottery. The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology.
The Virginia Lottery currently operates retail and internet lottery sales, while also regulating mobile sports betting and casino gaming. The Virginia Racing Commission regulates live horseracing, historic horseracing machines and advanced-deposit wagering (ADW).
Meanwhile, under state law, the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services regulates fantasy sports plus all forms of charitable gaming, including electronic pull-tabs, and the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority formerly regulated skill-game devices under a now expired registration system applied to the machines.
The Virginia gaming market has experienced a major expansion following the enactment of three separate bills in 2020 authorizing online sports wagering, commercial casinos and internet-based lottery games.
“Let’s focus our efforts this session on building a world-class regulatory body, and not on one-off bills pushed by special interest groups,” Youngkin said Monday, alluding to a failed effort last year to legalize skill-game machines in Virginia.
Pace-O-Matic, which formerly distributed its Queen of Virginia games to thousands of small business owners in the Commonwealth, has continued to lobby for legislation overturning the state’s ban on skill games.
A bipartisan effort to create a regulatory framework and tax structure for the machines during the 2024 General Assembly session failed in May when Youngkin vetoed a compromise measure that had been agreed to by the House and Senate.
In his veto statement, Youngkin noted that in recent years the state has authorized land-based casinos, sports betting and pari-mutuel wagering on top of established operations such as the Virginia Lottery, horseracing and charitable gaming.
Youngkin’s veto of Senate Bill 212 was widely expected.
After the House and Senate reached a consensus on the final terms of the bill, the governor then sought to overhaul SB 212 with stricter regulations and a higher tax rate, but the legislature overwhelmingly rejected his changes.
Potential regulation of skill-game machines is not the only gaming matter pending before lawmakers in Richmond.
Among the other gaming bills due to be considered by the Committee on General Laws and Technology’s agenda is Senate Bill 1280 that would require lottery retailers, charitable gaming venues, racetracks and casinos to post signs that include the toll-free number for problem gambling resources.
Senate Bill 982 would add a north Virginia community to the list of five eligible cities to host a land-based casino. The bill, whose primary sponsor is Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, a Democrat, seeks to designate a specific area within Fairfax County near Washington, D.C. for a commercial casino.
In addition, Senate Bill 863 would increase the minimum age from 18 to 21 to participate in fantasy sports contests, and Senate Bill 862 would require regulators to adopt regulations to create a list of agencies and the debts owed by residents to be collected from gambling winnings.
The committee is also expected to consider Senate Bill 827 that would legalize internet casino games in Virginia.
The Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology meets every Wednesday during the legislative session. There were several bills carried over from the 2024 session, including a proposal to allow wagering on in-state college sports, and another to legalize skill-games machines.
The Virginia General Assembly resumed its 2025 legislative session on Monday after a two-and-half-day delay caused by a water crisis in Richmond following a winter storm last week. The delay has already affected what is a short 45-day session this year.
