Former Virginia Lottery leader returns to post

Gov. Abigail Spanberger has appointed a familiar face to lead the Virginia Lottery.

On Tuesday, Spanberger, a Democrat, announced that Kevin Hall would return as the lottery’s executive director. He previously served in the role from 2018 to 2022, under then-Gov. Ralph Northam, also a Democrat. The Virginia Lottery regulates lottery gaming, sports betting and casino gaming in the state.

“Serving as executive director was the most meaningful and rewarding work of my career, and it’s a privilege to return to a job I genuinely loved,” Hall said in a statement. “The Virginia Lottery has a simple but powerful mission: generate funding for Virginia’s public schools. Every day, the work done by the people in this agency helps make that happen. I’m grateful to Gov. Spanberger for the opportunity to serve again, and I’m excited to get back to work.”

For fiscal 2022, Virginia Lottery ticket sales totaled more than $3.75 billion, which was a record at that time.

During Hall’s tenure, he launched the online iLottery platform and implemented regulatory programs for Virginia’s casinos and sports betting. The Virginia General Assembly approved sports betting and casinos in 2020.

Earlier in his career, Hall served in the administrations of former Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. He later followed Warner to the U.S. Senate, where he served as a senior communications and policy adviser until 2017, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Hall stepped down from the lottery at the start of Republican former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s term in 2022. Since then, he has worked as a public policy and communications consultant.

Kelly Gee served as the Virginia Lottery’s executive director from 2022 to 2023. Youngkin appointed Khalid Jones to the role in April 2024. Jones announced on LinkedIn last week that his tenure had ended. Tony R. Russell, most recently deputy executive director of ITS and operations at the lottery, served as interim executive director after both departures.

In fiscal 2025, the Virginia Lottery reported sales of more than $5.7 billion. Of that amount, $901 million went to K-12 public education.

As for Hall’s future plans for the job, he wants to continue to improve the independent state agency.

“The Lottery has been incredibly successful for almost 40 years, but we can’t stand still,” Hall said in the release. “The gaming landscape is continuously evolving, and our job is to make sure the Lottery remains innovative, responsible and worthy of the public’s trust while continuing to deliver strong results for Virginia’s schools.”