Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s win in the Virginia gubernatorial race could shape several key issues facing the commonwealth’s gaming stakeholders. Here are four major ways her win over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears will impact the industry.
Boost to skill-based gaming
Spanberger’s time in the governor’s mansion could help end the commonwealth’s years-long stalemate of skill-based gaming.
Democrats in the state legislature passed a bill that would legalize the games, which resemble slots and are in hundreds of truck stops statewide. Outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed the bill in 2024.
With a Democrat now in office, and the Democrats set to control both chambers of the General Assembly, a new skill gaming bill could become a reality when lawmakers return for the 2026 legislative session in January.
It’s no sure bet Spanberger will support such a bill, but it presents the cleanest path yet to regulating these games after years of legal challenges.
Potential sports betting tax increases
Though Spanberger has made no public comment on higher gaming taxes, her win would appear to raise the probability of an increase more than an Earle-Sears victory.
Spanberger centered her campaign on a multifaceted approach to improving affordability for Virginia residents’ housing, healthcare, and other costs. To achieve these goals could require tax increases in certain industries – and, in other states with Democratic governors, “vice” industries such as sports gambling have been a leading target politically.
Virginia policymakers could consider the state’s 15% tax on adjusted gross gaming revenue, similar to the tax increase passed by their counterparts in neighboring Maryland this year. Even doubling the tax, which would put it among the nation’s highest rates, would generate just around $100 million for the commonwealth’s roughly $88 billion annual budget.
Opponents of sports betting tax increases nationwide worry operators would pass on the higher costs to customers, ultimately hurting revenues.
Earle-Sears focused much of her campaign on widespread tax cuts. Her administration would have seemed less likely to push for a Virginia sports betting tax increase.
Online casinos possibly helped by one-party control
Neither candidate publicly discussed online casino gaming legalization on the campaign trail. Having one-party control could nevertheless be a slight boost.
Democrats add control of the governor’s mansion along with holding the House of Delegates, to go with existing control of the Senate (which was not on Tuesday’s ballot). A one-party “trifecta” typically helps the party in power pass more bills, though it remains to be seen if Democrats will take up a proposed iGaming legalization measure.
More liberal lawmakers in statehouses nationwide have tended to oppose online casino gambling because of how these games could hurt the economically disadvantaged. Among the two parties, Democrats are also typically the more supportive of unions, many of which have opposed iGaming over impacts to existing brick-and-mortar jobs.
But that still may create a more advantageous environment politically. Though some Republicans have seen iGaming as a new business opportunity, many GOP elected officials have decried gambling expansion as a moral and societal ill.
What’s clear is that a tabled 2025 bill will be reconsidered in 2026. And, with such narrow margins in the General Assembly, it will still need bipartisan support.
New casinos remain a question
Like online casinos, new proposed brick-and-mortar gaming facilities still face an uncertain future under the new governor.
After centuries of prohibition, voters in five Virginia municipalities in recent years have approved in-person casino gambling in their respective communities. These highly local issues were not discussed much by either candidate on the statewide gubernatorial campaign trail.
With the incoming governor giving no indication in support or opposition to proposed casinos in Tysons Corner, Roanoke or any other community, it’s unclear how her position (if any) on such expansion would shape the legislation required to put these issues before voters on an upcoming ballot. These two jurisdictions, and possibly more, will still likely be discussed in the General Assembly when lawmakers begin the 2026 session.
