Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has rejected two major gambling bills, stopping a plan to legalize skill games and another that would have opened the door to a casino in Fairfax County. She rejected the Fairfax casino bill, Senate Bill 756, on April 9 and the skill games bill, Senate Bill 661, on April 10.
The two decisions give an early sign of how Spanberger wants to handle gambling policy. Virginia may still expand gambling in the future, but her veto statements show she wants clearer statewide oversight and stronger local control before that happens.
Skill games fight remains unsettled
Spanberger said SB 661 would have legalized electronic skill gaming devices even though Virginia still does not have one independent body to regulate all legal gaming. She said adding thousands more machines without that structure would put more pressure on an already split system and make it harder for the state to enforce rules, protect consumers and stop illegal activity.
She also pointed to Virginia ABC data from the 2020 to 2021 period, when skill games were allowed to operate legally. According to the governor’s office, the machines were concentrated in communities with higher poverty rates, lower educational attainment, and higher Black and Hispanic populations than the state as a whole.
That leaves one of Virginia’s longest-running gambling disputes unresolved. Skill games have been a contested issue in the state for years, and Spanberger’s decision means the fight over whether to legalize and regulate them is far from settled.
Fairfax casino plan runs into local opposition
A day earlier, Spanberger rejected SB 756, which would have added Fairfax County to the list of Virginia localities eligible to host a casino. Her objection was less about casinos in general and more about the local process.
In her veto statement, she said the bill would have stripped the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors of control over local approval, required the county to set a referendum, and created a model that could let state lawmakers override local opposition in future casino fights. She also noted that Virginia’s existing casino markets followed a different route, with local governing bodies supporting referendums instead of fighting them.
Virginia’s gambling debate is still moving, just more slowly
Taken together, the two vetoes do not shut the door on future gambling expansion in Virginia. They do, though, show where Spanberger wants the debate to begin: with one statewide regulator, clearer oversight and a stronger local voice before the market gets any bigger
