Virginia moved another step closer to legalizing online casino gaming on Tuesday, but not before lawmakers altered a Senate-approved proposal to ensure that it must pass in the state’s General Assembly both this year and in the 2027 legislative session.
This week, the state House General Laws Committee substituted Senate Bill 118 to align it with House Bill 161. Those two bills have each already passed their respective original chamber, but both of them required a re-vote on the chamber floor after being rejected the first time around.
The biggest change to SB 118 made in the House committee is that it now mirrors HB 161 by including a two-session reenactment requirement; previously, SB 118 did not have the reenactment clause and laid out a July 2027 launch date. “The provisions of this act shall not become effective unless reenacted by the 2027 Session of the General Assembly,” read the substituted text of SB 118.
That provision was first added to HB 161 in early February, essentially ensuring that Virginia lawmakers must give the idea of legalizing online casino gambling second thought next year before operators would be allowed to go live in the state. With the two-year passage change, lawmakers voted 16-4 in favor of advancing SB 118. It will next go to the House Appropriations Committee.
Change pushes market launch to 2028
SB 118 would allow the state’s five existing land-based casinos to offer up to three online casino skins each. Caesars, Rush Street, Hard Rock, Boyd and Cordish all run brick-and-mortar casinos in Virginia. Companies would pay a $500,000 licensing fee and a platform fee of $2m.
The Virginia Lottery Board would be required to promulgate regulations by January 1, 2028, pushing the launch of the Virginia online casino market into that year.
The bill would also serve as a de facto legislative ban on online sweepstakes gaming, unless such games are offered with authorization by the state by a licensed iGaming operator.
Catering to casino and lottery cannibalizing concerns
The current version of the bill suggests that operators would be taxed at 20% of their adjusted gross online casino gaming revenue.
Portions of the tax revenue would go towards two separate “Hold Harmless Funds”. One of those is aimed at offsetting any loss of revenue suffered by land-based casino gaming revenue “that is attributed to internet gaming”, and the other serves a similar purpose for the Virginia Lottery’s digital operations.
Meanwhile, HB 161 is awaiting discussion in its first Senate committee. Given that senators passed SB 118 with different language, there is a chance they could push back against the House’s language that is now in both HB 161 and the substituted SB 118.
Other Senate gambling bills advance in House
On Tuesday, the House General Laws Committee advanced several other gambling-related bills that have already passed the Senate.
One of those is SB 129, related to daily fantasy sports. Late in its Senate journey, that bill was changed from an idea to officially limit DFS to peer-to-peer play only and tax it at 10% to a suggestion to merely study the idea further. The House committee changed it back to its original form, aligning it with Chair Paul Krizek’s House version, HB 145.
Another, SB 609, would create a new Virginia regulator to oversee expanded forms of gaming, while SB 756 would allow Virginia residents to vote on whether to allow a new casino in Fairfax County adjacent to Washington, D.C.
