Skill games legislation failed to receive a full floor vote in the Senate after it crawled – barely surviving – through committee. But even without passing the full Senate, skill games are still alive. Senate Democrats included an amendment in their budget proposal to allow for legal skill games to be taxed and regulated in the commonwealth. The House budget proposal does not include any related language.
The Senate budget amendment is identical to the bill that advanced out of the General Assembly last year. That legislation, however, never reached the finish line due to a veto from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
This new amendment crosses out the language of the current budget that says: “‘Illegal gambling’ also means the playing or offering for play of any skill game,” and creates new language that would say: “’Illegal gambling’ does not include the playing or offering for play of any skill game machine authorized pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 42 (§ 58.1-4200 et seq.) of Title 58.1.”
The proposal would task the Virginia Lottery with regulating skill games, casino gaming and sports betting in the commonwealth.
“This amendment establishes the Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act for the purpose of providing a regulatory and registration scheme for skill game machines in the Commonwealth,” the amendment explanation reads. “This enactment language is identical to Senate Bill 212 of the 2024 General Assembly as passed by the House and Senate. The amendment authorizes and specifies the registration requirements for the distribution, operation, hosting, and play of skill game machines, as defined in the enactment.”
The proposal would impose a 25% tax on the gross receipts from skill game machines, and the majority of the revenue would be deposited into the PreK-12 Priority Fund.
It would also direct the Virginia Lottery Board to create regulations no later than July 1, 2027, to implement the provisions of the bill and authorize the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority to grant a provisional registration beginning July 1, 2026.
Prior to vetoing the skill games legislation in 2024, which was sponsored by Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, Youngkin proposed changes to the legislation. His suggested changes were rejected by the General Assembly.
“When it comes to additional gaming options, such as games of skill, we must proceed with a robust set of safeguards,” Youngkin said in his veto statement. “I sent over a package of amendments which addressed my many concerns with the bill. While it is regrettable that my recommendations were not adopted, I remain open to working with the General Assembly going forward on this subject.”
Youngkin does not seem anxious to move forward with skill games this year.
“I am not interested in progressing any of those kinds of bills,” Youngkin told News 3 in an interview last month.
Instead, he wants to focus on creating one independent agency to oversee all gaming activities in Virginia.
“Let’s work together on other issues where we can find common ground. One of those issues is gaming,” Youngkin said during his State of the Commonwealth. “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.”
The proposed budget from the House of Delegates included language to create a Virginia Gaming Commission.
Both chambers must pass an identical budget bill before sending it to the governor, meaning these differences will have to be worked out in conference before the legislative session ends later this month.
(Note: Virginians Against Neighborhood Slot Machines are often sponsors of the Virginia Political Newsletter. That relationship in no way impacted the coverage of this legislation. They had no input other than being asked to comment on the results.)