After receiving sufficient committee support, bills in Virginia to permit iGaming and a casino in Fairfax County have advanced to the Senate floor.
The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee approved a number of gaming-related proposals on Tuesday. Senate Bill 756, which aims to identify Fairfax County as an appropriate host for a casino, and Senate Bill 118, which aims to establish iGaming in the commonwealth, were recommended for advancing by the committee.
For an initial $500,000 cost, Virginia's physical casinos would be able to pursue internet gaming privileges under the iGaming bill. The annual renewal fee would be $250,000.
Additionally, each casino would have the option to collaborate with up to three third-party iGaming platforms; these skins would cost $2 million up front and be renewed every year for $1 million. SB118 suggests a 15% tax on all iGaming earnings.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors would be permitted to hold a competitive bid for a single land-based casino under SB756. Following the selection of a development, the Virginia Lottery Board would legally grant the project a gaming license only after a local ballot referendum was approved by a majority of county voters.
The Senate floor will now examine SB118 and SB756.
Support and Opposition to iGaming
Online casinos are viewed differently by Virginia's current gambling operators.
The Cordish Companies is constructing Live! Petersburg's Casino & Hotel is vehemently against it. Churchill Downs also runs seven off-track bookmakers and slot-like historical horse racing (HHR) machines at The Rose Gaming Resort in Dumfries.
Cordish and Churchill, members of the National Association Against iGaming, contend that online casinos prey on addiction, exacerbate financial losses, and pose a threat to the heavily regulated and taxed physical casino sector.
The operators of the casinos in Danville, Bristol, Norfolk, and Portsmouth—Caesars Entertainment, Hard Rock, Boyd Gaming, and Rush Street Gaming—generally promote iGaming. These businesses contend that iGaming enhances traditional brick-and-mortar gaming and provides a secure online gambling environment for customers who currently use unregulated, black-market offshore casino websites.
The Northern Virginia casino project is being led by Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) in 2026. Surovell believes that in order to recover the millions of dollars in lost gaming tax income that are currently going to Maryland, Virginia should build a casino in the wealthy northern portion of the state.
According to Surovell, Fairfax also requires a revenue repair because county revenue hasn't kept up with post-pandemic spending. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors levied a 4% tax surcharge on all meals starting on January 1, 2026, in the county's most recent desperate attempt to find new sources of income.
Comstock Companies, a local real estate developer, is conspiring with Surovell and former supporters of the Fairfax casino legislation. Comstock is requesting permission to construct a casino on land it owns adjacent to the Adaire residential high-rise, which is situated between Spring Hill Road and Tyco Road at Leesburg Pike, by using campaign payments to influence state legislators.
The Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, according to Patch, removed the part of Surovell's measure that would have restricted a casino in Fairfax County to that particular land.
