On a busy day in the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond on Wednesday, Senate lawmakers gave final approval to a bill to ban the use of credit cards for sports betting.
A little more than a month after House Bill 515 passed the House by a 94-3 vote, senators unanimously approved it 40-0.
The bill removes credit cards from the list of approved account funding methods for sports wagering operators who are licensed to do business by the Virginia Lottery Board. The Lottery already prohibits credit cards for lottery play.
The three no votes on the House floor are the only rejections the idea received at any stage. It was approved unanimously by multiple committees in each of the House and the Senate over the last six weeks, as well as on the Senate floor on Wednesday.
The Senate-approved version has one small amendment, made in the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee two weeks ago, to add that sportsbooks must be held accountable in taking “reasonable measures” to ensure credit cards are not being used. If the House agrees to that tweak, the legislation will go before Democrat Gov. Abigail Spanberger to be signed into law, which officially would make Virginia the latest in a line of states to ban credit cards.
During its time in the House, bill sponsor Del. Marty Martinez referenced numerous states that ban credit card use for sports betting by either legislative or regulatory means, such as Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Illinois. Other states including New York, New Jersey and Colorado have bills in play this year that would do the same.
Martinez also noted DraftKings blocked credit card use nationwide last summer; since he made those comments, FanDuel has also banned credit cards.
Online casino bills need agreement
While it has all but finalized a ban on credit cards for sports betting, Virginia looks primed to legalize online casino gaming — but not until next year, and only if nominated legislators in each chamber can come to an agreement.
The two versions of the proposal to introduce iGaming, SB 118 and HB 161, have each passed both the Senate and the House, although both bills needed a re-vote on their original chamber’s floor after being rejected the first time around.
But the waters are muddied by the fact that in both cases, changes were made along the way, and each chamber unanimously rejected the other chamber’s adjustments on Wednesday.
Now, three representatives from each chamber have been appointed as conferees to try to hash out a compromise before Virginia’s legislative session ends on March 14. The group of six includes the main sponsor of each bill.
Same, but different
If the conferees can agree, Gov. Spanberger will have another gambling bill to sign or to veto. Maybe not for a while, though.
At heart, the two bills do the same thing. Each of the state’s three brick-and-mortar casinos would be able to partner with up to three online casino operators to launch iGaming if they pay a $2m platform fee. iCasino platforms would pay $500,000 for a license. Both bills would tax online casino gaming at 20% and dedicate an additional 6% of revenue to a casino gaming “hold harmless” fund designed to ease casinos’ cannibalization concerns by offsetting potential losses attributable to online casino.
Both bills also now include a two-session reenactment clause that stipulates that the law would not take effect unless it was approved again in a new vote in the 2027 session. That would effectively push any potential online casino market launch date into 2028, as the Lottery Board would be required to put forth regulations by Jan. 1, 2028.
SB 118 originally legislated for a July 2027 launch date before the reenactment provision was inserted.
But the two versions of the bill still differ in several ways, including on where the majority of the tax revenue from online casino gaming should go. The appointed conferees have little more than a week to find a solution before time runs out.
