Spanberger vetoes Fairfax casino referendum vote

Gov. Abigail Spanberger on Thursday vetoed legislation that would have led to Fairfax County‘s referendum vote to determine whether a casino would be built in Tysons.

Sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, Senate Bill 756 passed the state legislature this session after failing in three other attempts in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Spanberger vetoed the bill because “it would strip the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors of control over the local approval process, require the county to set a referendum and set a broader precedent,” according to her official statement. In a news release Thursday afternoon, Spanberger noted that the board would have been required to call a vote “regardless of the board’s explicit opposition.”

Elected city councilors petitioned circuit courts in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Petersburg, where voters authorized casinos to be built since the state legalized casino gaming in 2020, as well as two referendum votes that failed in Richmond. However, those localities’ officials “actively sought the authority to hold referendums and have strongly advocated for their projects,” which is not the case in Fairfax, Spanberger said.

“Local governing boards should lead on proposed casino development, as has happened in every locality that now has a casino,” Spanberger said in a statement. “But in Fairfax County, the Board of Supervisors has explicitly opposed this legislation, and an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly members who represent Fairfax voted against it.”

Jeff McKay, chair of the Fairfax board, said in a March statement that he would “continue to fight any and all efforts to jam a casino in Tysons,” following the bill’s passage through the state legislature. Before the legislature’s vote, every supervisor except Pat Herrity asked members of the Fairfax County delegation to vote against the measure, which at that time was worded differently and would have authorized a temporary casino without a referendum vote. Ultimately, that plan was discarded in favor of the version of the bill that passed.

Spanberger noted that the state legislation also required the location of a casino to the Tysons area within a quarter-mile of a Silver Line Metro stop in northern Fairfax County, another restriction on local decision-making.

“This effectively precludes local input and eliminates local decisions,” she said. And while the vetoed bill affected only Fairfax County, Spanberger added that it could “set a precedent to bring casino referendums to other localities where the local governing board may similarly oppose such an effort.”

Spanberger added that the state needs a “single, independent and dedicated entity” responsible for regulating all legal gaming in the state, including casinos, horse racing, online gambling and games like bingo. In March, a House of Delegates bill that would have created an independent state gaming commission was tabled by the state Senate Finance & Appropriations committee, killing the legislation for the session. The Senate had a bill that would expand the Virginia Lottery’s authority, allowing it to regulate most of the legal gaming industry in the state, but it failed to pass during Senate conference discussions last month.

Surovell was “deeply disappointed” by Spanberger’s veto, he said in a statement Thursday. “This bill was Northern Virginia labor’s No. 1 legislative priority — supported by every major building trades union in the region — and it carried the endorsement of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. Critically, it earned genuine bipartisan support, passing the Virginia Senate 25-13 and the House of Delegates 55-41 with votes from both Democrats and Republicans who recognized the enormous economic opportunity this legislation represented for Northern Virginia and for the commonwealth.”

He added in the statement that “the voters were never going to be bypassed. … It was a permission slip, not a mandate,” and closed with a vow: “I will not stop.”

The No Fairfax Casino Coalition, a group of more than 40 local organizations that oppose a casino referendum vote, released a statement praising the governor’s decision.

“This was a special carveout for one locality, and Gov. Spanberger rejected it,” said Lynne Mulston, chair of the coalition’s steering committee. “That decision respects local concerns and recognizes the need for transparent, evidence-based policy.”

The coalition added that the legislation “offered unverified fiscal assumptions and questionable economic benefits while ignoring likely added costs for traffic mitigation, social services and housing support.”

The Tysons Stakeholders Alliance thanked the governor in a statement. “This victory belongs to the local community, which organized and put up a valiant fight to oppose this development,” alliance President Paula Martino said. “We’re proud that our grassroots effort helped ensure that Tysons and Fairfax County remain focused on the thoughtful, sustainable growth that has made our region a destination that so many families and businesses are proud to call home.”

Surovell, who represents part of Fairfax County, sponsored the bill to address concerns about economic development in the county. He noted that county leaders have projected a multimillion-dollar budget shortfall.

“Fairfax County hasn’t landed a major development project in a decade, and this project presents this entertainment complex that would be a multibillion-dollar project to bring thousands of jobs and probably a billion dollars of tax revenue per decade to the county,” he said in an interview in March.

Surovell has long backed the idea of a casino in Fairfax, arguing that local dollars are instead going to Maryland’s MGM National Harbor and West Virginia casinos.