Gambling has not been a major campaign topic in a Virginia governor’s race shaped by federal policy, taxation, and healthcare. Still, either current Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears or former Democratic U.S. House Rep. Abigail Spanberger will help shape gambling policy from the governor’s mansion next year.
Here are the four major gaming issues facing the commonwealth’s next governor.
Skill-based gaming legalization
The two parties have taken different positions on the multi-year question of skill-based gaming.
Former Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed a 2020 bill that banned these machines, which act like slots and are in hundreds of truck stops statewide. The ban has survived multiple years of legal challenges but was written in such a way that new types of machines with slightly different rules have been allowed to operate.
Democrats in the state General Assembly passed a bill that would regulate and tax these machines. Outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin has vetoed the legislation.
If the 2025 candidates maintain their respective party’s positions, a Spanberger win would seemingly be a boost for legalizing the machines, while an Earle-Sears victory would continue to keep them in legal jeopardy.
Sports betting taxes
Neighboring Maryland is among the states that increased sports betting taxes this year with more likely to consider similar moves in 2026. Virginia’s 15% tax on a sportsbook’s adjusted gross gaming revenue is roughly in line with national averages, but it could be reconsidered in next year’s legislative session.
Earle-Sears has made tax cuts a central point of her campaign. She would seem unlikely to support a sportsbook tax increase.
Spanberger’s campaign has focused on her “Affordable Virginia Plan,” which includes ways to lower healthcare, housing, energy, and other costs for families. She would seem more amenable to a tax increase but has given no indication she would back a raise on sportsbooks.
Online casino gaming
Neither candidate has taken a firm public stance on an online casino gaming legalization bill set to be considered in next year’s legislative session.
Republicans that have backed iGaming legalization have typically viewed regulation as a way to generate new tax revenues. GOP legalization opponents have historically viewed gambling as morally unethical and have opposed legalization, especially for a digital gambling offering that critics say is akin to putting a slot machine in every hand.
Maryland's MGM National Harbor, which is feet from the Virginia and Washington DC borders, was the nation's second-highest grossing casino in 2024; You can see why MGM wants to stop a bill that would allow a competing casino in Northern Virginia
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) February 19, 2025
Democratic legalization supporters have tended to back Republicans’ position on new tax revenues while seeing regulation as a means to offer customer protections not available on the hundreds of illegal iCasinos operating nationwide. Opponents fear iGaming will increase gambling addiction and disproportionately hurt the less wealthy.
Some brick-and-mortar gambling stakeholders have also vehemently opposed iGaming. That includes the Cordish Group, which is opening a casino in Petersburg. Cordish led iGaming legalization opposition efforts in Maryland and will likely be a prominent voice against online gaming in the Old Dominion.
New casinos
After centuries of opposition, Virginia approved the commonwealth’s four casinos in 2020 and a fifth in 2024. All five are in economically disadvantaged areas in the state’s southern half and were celebrated as revenue generators.
A sixth casino has been debated in Tysons Corner, a wealthy Washington D.C. suburb. Business leaders in Roanoke, a small town in the state’s southwest corner, are also considering a casino.
By Nov. 5 we'll know if voters in Petersburg, Virginia have approved Cordish Companies to build the $1.4 billion Live! Casino & Hotel Virginia mixed-use entertainment district; if approved it would house VA's fifth casino
— Ryan Butler (@ButlerBets) October 23, 2024
[April 2024 renderings of the project via Cordish] pic.twitter.com/J85m3smTRT
Both proposals have proved far more controversial than any of the prior casinos. Opponents have argued the casinos don’t fit in with the larger community, and any benefit would be outweighed by the cost.
In any municipality, the General Assembly would need to pass legislation allowing area voters to approve or reject a casino, as they did with the prior five. Neither gubernatorial candidate has taken a public stance on the issue, but their office could shape - or reject - future brick-and-mortar casino gaming.
