Bill to create independent gaming commission delayed to 2027

A Virginia Senate committee on Monday effectively killed a House bill that would’ve created an independent agency to regulate the state’s gambling industry, voting 11-3 to continue the measure to the 2027 session.

Several agencies, including the Virginia Lottery, the Virginia Racing Commission and the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, currently oversee gambling in Virginia. HB 271, introduced by Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, aimed to consolidate oversight under a single gaming regulator.

The proposed Virginia Gaming Commission would be an independent agency overseeing and regulating all forms of legal gambling in Virginia, except the state lottery, which would remain under the Virginia Lottery. The proposal called for a 10-member board consisting of nine non-legislative citizen members with voting privileges and one member with nonvoting privileges. The commission would be responsible for licensing, enforcing gaming laws and investigating violations.

Krizek told the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Resources that “the gaming landscape has changed a lot” and continues to do so. In February, Krizek told a House committee that issues like iGaming, casino expansions, skill games, charitable gaming and “so much more” are being explored in a vacuum. He said it would be preferable to have one authoritative body that would study these matters and evaluate gaming as a unified whole.

“The [Virginia] Lottery has done a great job of managing the programs entrusted to it,” he said. “But it was really created to operate games, not to serve as the long-term comprehensive game regulator. And this Gaming Commission came out of a two-year study. And I think it’s time that we bite the bullet and put it all into one. We’ve got too many agencies regulating gaming as it is right now.”

Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, was among those who voted to continue the bill to 2027 on Monday.

“Our concern was just creating a separate bureaucracy than the one we already have, the lottery,” he said.

Sen. Louise Lucas, chair of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, has introduced a separate proposal, SB 609, that would place oversight of legal gambling under a new Virginia Lottery and Gaming Authority. The authority would be led by a director and a seven-member board appointed by the governor and would oversee the state lottery while regulating other forms of legal gaming. Lucas’ bill, SB 609, passed the Senate in February and is now being considered in the House of Delegates.

Lucas and Krizek did not immediately return requests for comment.

Katie Frazier, state secretary of agriculture and forestry, told the House ABC/Gaming Subcommittee in February that Gov. Abigail Spanberger supported establishing a single, dedicated entity responsible for regulating and enforcing legalized gaming in Virginia.

“Our patchwork approach is inefficient,” she said. “It creates gaps in oversight and makes it more difficult to protect consumers, collect reliable data and ensure fair and responsible game play. Gov. Spanberger is deeply concerned about any discussions of gaming expansion in Virginia without first establishing a single entity with clear authority, consistent standards and strong compliance and enforcement capabilities.”