Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed a bill Friday that would have legalized skill games, noting she wants the state to centralize gaming enforcement.
Skill games, often found in convenience stores, are slot-style games that require more than luck to win. The industry was technically banned in 2020, but skill games were allowed to operate while a court case challenging the law wound its way through the courts. Proprietors were obligated to stop allowing skill gaming in 2023.
“The absence of a centralized regulatory authority for gaming creates gaps in oversight that threaten the Commonwealth of Virginia’s ability to provide consistent enforcement, prevent illicit activity, and protect all consumers,” Spanberger said in a statement. “Right now, legalizing skill gaming and introducing more of these machines into our communities would strain an already fragmented system.”
She also cited concern over the a study that previously showed a disproportionate concentration of skill games in areas of the state with high poverty rates and in Black and Hispanic communities.
Proposals to establish a gaming commission to regulate legal gambling were continued to next year or died in conference. Various state agencies currently have oversight of gaming operations like casinos, horse racing and charitable gaming.
The skill games legislation has supporters and detractors on both sides of the aisle. Proponents of legalizing skill gaming argue that some 90,000 skill game machines are already operational but unregulated.
“The reality is that skill games exist across the commonwealth now,” said Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, when he introduced the skill games bill before a subcommittee earlier this year. Rouse could not immediately be reached for comment on Friday’s veto.
On Thursday, Spanberger also vetoed a bill that would have authorized a casino in Northern Virginia’s Tysons Corner. Other gaming-related bills that would have legalized internet gaming got stuck in a conference committee with no agreement reached.
Kate Seltzer, 757-713-7881, kate.seltzer@virginiamedia.com