Virginia Gov Shuts Down Skill Game Legislation

Regulatory Committee Required

Skill games are virtually identical to slot machines, but unlike slots, which are determined by an RNG (Random Number Generator), skill games allow customers to use a bit of “skill” in the bonus rounds, in addition to using an RNG.

But Governor Spanberger believes that there needs to be a regulatory board devoted to overseeing any new gambling in the Old Dominion. Therefore, she vetoed both gaming bills, one of which would have reinstituted skill game machines and the other that would have allowed a casino in Fairfax County.

“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. Right now, legalizing skill gaming and introducing more of these machines into our communities would strain an already fragmented system,” Spanberger said.

However, there is hope for similar legislative bills in the future, as Governor Spanberger doesn’t necessarily have an issue with them as long as there is a regulatory commission in place to oversee any new gaming additions to the Commonwealth.

“The rapid expansion of gaming in Virginia over the last decade has outpaced the Commonwealth’s ability to provide consistent enforcement, robust public safety oversight, and meaningful assessments of the potential impacts or harms of gaming in all its forms,” Spanberger explained.

Disagreement Sinks iGaming

The Virginia House and Senate both passed their own versions of iGaming legislation, but when the opposite chamber got hold of them, they were both changed to reflect the desires of each chamber.

Ultimately, the differences between the bills were relatively minor, but even a conference committee consisting of House and Senate members could not come to a compromise agreement on a final version, which has killed any chances of an online casino industry, at least for now.

Senator Bryce Reeves, who was chairman of the joint subcommittee studying the feasibility of a Virginia Gaming Commission, may have foreshadowed the demise of an iGaming compromise when he publicly stated he had shifted his stance from being a supporter to a detractor of the iGaming legislation.

“I just happen to be engaged to a forensic psychologist who works on addiction, and she changed my mind to where I’m a no on this,” Reeves said. “… After consulting with her and her telling me what we’re about to do to our youth, I can’t in good faith vote for this bill.”

Senator Bill Stanley also voiced his misgivings with the prospect of an iGaming industry in the state, saying teenagers are already consumed with their phones, “And now, we’re being asked to put a slot machine on it. Let that sink in for a moment. We have spent the last decade in this country watching what smartphones have done to a generation. We watch teenagers unable to put the device down at the dinner table, in the classroom, in bed at 2 a.m.”