Senate Bill 882 was introduced by Sen. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) and passed the Senate in a bipartisan vote of 24-16. Some Democrats and Republicans voted no, while others voted yes. was previously by the Senate General Laws and Technology and Senate Finance Committees.
In 2024, Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Fairfax) introduced a similar bill, which was defeated in the Senate Finance Committee last year.
Virginia’s current law allows only five cities to have one casino: Bristol, Danville Norfolk, Petersburg, and Portsmouth. The voters in each city passed casino referendums in their ballots. Three casinos are now open, with Norfolk’s resort under construction, in Bristol, Danville, and Portsmouth.
Surovell, in a recent statement following the passage of the bill through the finance panel, said that Virginia residents already send billions of dollars to Maryland every decade in the Northern Virginia area by patronizing the MGM National Harbor casino just across the Maryland state border. It’s time to use that money to build a performing arts center of world-class, a convention center, and create thousands of union jobs in Fairfax County so all who work in the area can live there. This bill allows the Fairfax County voters to decide if the project should go forward.
Local opposition is strong to the proposed Tysons casino. The grassroots No Fairfax County Casino Coalition representing several homeowners associations and town halls went to Richmond to lobby lawmakers to oppose the bill. A group of former federal intelligence and defense officers, known as National Security Leaders for Fairfax, sent a letter to Fairfax County officials and state officials in early January. According to The Washington Post.
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