Legalized Gambling In Virginia

Virginia has traditionally been conservative about gambling, allowing only lotteries and betting on horse races After a push for gambling expansion, a bill gained serious momentum in the opening months of 2019 That bill has now been signed into law by the governor, making casinos and online gaming legal in the state. Virginia voters in four cities on have passed local ballot referendums to allow one commercial casino each in their towns. Hundreds wait in line to vote on Friday, Sept. 18, 2020, in Fairfax, Va. The Virginia Lottery Board voted Tuesday to approve the state’s first-ever regulations on sports betting, making some changes in response to feedback from big gambling platforms but maintaining.

Meanwhile, Virginia’s legalization may also pull some customers from West Virginia, which legalized sports betting in March of 2018. DraftKings, FanDuel, and BetMGM all have online sportsbooks there, and there are five brick-and-mortar operations at all the existing casinos and racetracks. The next step in legalizing casinos in Virginia rests with Gov. Ralph Northam, who may try to amend the legislation. If he does make changes, lawmakers would vote on them during a one-day.

• Sports betting has now become legal in thirteen states with six other states in line to do the same.
• Virginia estimates a tax revenue of $55 million annually from sports wagers which is very minor in comparison to the overall estimate of $367 million from the combined legal gambling market.
• The state lottery has only allotted $30,000 in funding for gambling addiction services for residents.

NORFOLK, Va. – On Monday, the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee (JLARC) released a study conducted for the lawmakers of the state to review when they go into their 2020 sessions.

Virginia would be the first state to venture into both legalization of gambling on casino games and sports betting jointly. Every state that has made sports betting legal has done so where they have already had legalized casinos and sports wagering facilities became an extension of their businesses or they’ve chosen to simply have legal sports betting and not add casino gambling.

The Gambling Report

The 202-page report will be used as a foundation for the decision making on the legalization of both forms of gambling when the General Assembly meets. The study was authorized after five cities in the state were given the okay to offer casino gaming in 2019 pending research on the impact of gambling in Virginia.

Within the report were findings that sports betting is much quicker to get off of the ground than the opening of casinos. The report suggests that sports betting should be regulated by the Virginia Lottery for an internet-based sportsbook market. It also adds that while regulations would be set by the lottery, the day to day operations should be run by a well-known online sportsbook presence like that of FanDuel or DraftKings. It is noted within the report that while this would be the fastest and easiest route in the legalization of sports betting, it would hinder the number of jobs and land-based businesses that could benefit from legal sports wagers.

The report remains neutral, as it should, and offers both pros and cons for their findings. Should lawmakers decide to go the internet route and roll out sports betting applications first, this could lead to delays in making casinos a reality. Residents and operators will be focused on legal sports betting and casinos would be put on the back burner. It has been found through the study that if the state wishes to make both pastimes legal, they should both be offered to residents at the same time to make it a more even playing field for revenue purposes.

Gaming is already occurring within areas where the laws are not as concise. Reports show that there are between 4,500 to 9,200 slot style gambling machines in use. Based on pure estimation, because there is no regulation on these machines, it is said that they are raking in anywhere between $83 million and $468 million yearly.

“Estimating revenue for grey machines or their impact to other types of gaming is difficult because of the unregulated nature of the industry,” says the report. “The number of devices, amount of customer play, payout percentages and locations are generally unknown to the state. Furthermore, one of the prominent device manufacturers declined to provide the JLARC study team data on machine revenues.”

Remaining factors that should be taken into consideration by lawmakers are the location for which their casinos and sports betting lounges will be. Studies have found that poorer areas may see more problems with gambling addiction. Addicts or problem gamblers are a prevalent issue among lower-income families.

Should this become a real problem later on, the $30,000 in funding by the lottery for gambling addiction will need to be raised to meet the needs of the public. Areas with a more affluent population may draw more money into establishments without as much risk for individuals to develop an addiction. The General Assembly will have plenty of factors to consider when they meet in 2020.

News tags: DraftKings FanDuel Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee Virginia Virginia Lottery

Christina has been writing for as long as she can remember and does dedicated research on the newly regulated sports betting market. She comes from a family of sports lovers that engage in friendly bets from time to time. During the winter months, you can find Christina baking cookies and beating the entire staff at Mario Kart…the N64 version of course.

Published Tuesday, Jun. 18, 2019, 9:04 am

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If you like gambling and you live in Virginia, then you’re a bit unlucky, to say the least. Virginia is one of the most restrictive states in the US when it comes to citizens having a flutter. This is in a country which, in general, doesn’t have the most tolerant attitude when it comes to gambling, especially online gambling. It’s only recently that lawmakers have come around to the idea of sports betting.

The good news is the lawmakers in the Old Dominion state, too, are beginning to think that gaming in Virginia might not be such a bad thing after all. A bill was passed earlier this year that is likely to bring casinos, sports betting and online gambling to the state. The governor of the state, Ralph Northam, signed the bill in March.

What’s in the bill?

Unfortunately, a city can’t just build a casino when it feels like it. The Virginia Lottery Board has the power to issue a single license per city, and it won’t just hand them out. There are a few conditions the city has to meet first:

• At least 40% of the land area must not be subject to local real property taxation (0r 24% if a local Indian tribe is conducting the gaming).
• The unemployment rate has to have been a minimum of 5% in 2017 (or 4% if situated adjacent to a state that has implemented a Border Region Retail Tourism Development Act; the poverty rate must have been 20% or more in 2016; and a the city must have experienced a population decrease of 4% or more from 1990 to 2016.
• The city has a larger population than 200,000, according to 2017 estimates.

Importantly, the local casino must support the casino. The city must hold a referendum before January 1, 2021, and the casino must pass the referendum.

Likely but not certain

The fact is that the Virginia Lottery Board, under the bill, has all the power and can decide what types of betting the state will permit, which means online gambling isn’t past the finish line just yet. Although the law allows the possibility of online gambling and sports betting, how the state would address tax issues and market access, and implement responsible gaming policies, are still decisions to make.

They may wish to look into brick-and-mortar casinos first before venturing into the online domain, since the law has detailed provisions on these, and take it from there. Online gaming could come later or not at all.

Would it be popular?

Developments in the US, in general, suggest there is an appetite for sports betting, and this may have led the powers that be in Virginia to reconsider their own attitude towards gambling in the state. According to the American Gaming Association, the nation wages approximately $150 billion on sports illegally each year.

Last year, the Supreme Court dealt a crushing blow to the anti-sports betting crowd, amongst which were the NFL, the NBA, the NHL and Major League Baseball, who had argued that it could hurt the integrity of the game (s). The state of New Jersey argued that Congress had exceeded their authority when it passed a law banning sports betting. New Jersey won, and they’d been fighting long and hard for such a ruling.

Legalized Gambling In Virginia

It seems that citizens in Virginia would welcome any kind of casino or sports betting, whether online or offline. Last year, findings from a poll with 841 participants discovered 63% of registered voters were in favor of legalizing sports betting. 64% were in favor of the Pamunkey Tribe opening a casino — and 58% said that if tribal casinos were allowed, other types should be allowed as well. Virginia is especially short of poker rooms, so cards players would likely welcome somewhere where they can put their bluffing and cards skills to the test.

A little extra in everyone’s pockets

It’s not all just about being citizens able to do something that law had forbidden them previously. There’s a strong financial incentive to do so as well. The casinos would bring in a substantial amount of revenue for the state — as much as $600 million — and do so without introducing new taxes or raising taxes. Extra taxation is never popular with voters or legislators.

In fact, rather than introducing new taxes to bring in some extra dollars for state coffers, the potential legalization of casinos has triggered discussions of tax cuts. This could be in the shape of tax cuts for everyone. The other option is to expand tax credits for people on low or moderate incomes in Virginia. It’s noted that people in Republican districts seemed to be more in favor of tax cuts for all the citizens. That said, both options would be popular. In a choice between tax cuts or expanded tax credits, 49% voted for the tax cut and 46% for the extra tax credit.

Boosting the public mood

All the talk of casinos and potential tax breaks could well have lifted the public mood in Virginia. Only 35% stated a belief that America was moving in the right direction, which is a marked contrast to how they feel about the direction Virginia was taking: 64% were optimistic and believed the state was going about things the right way. That’s a record.

The job approval ratings for Ralph Northam, who is a Democrat, reflect this positive outlook. He received a 59% job approval. He’s even had the backing of 30% of Republicans since he stepped into his shoes as Governor of Virginia in January 2018. He may, however, run into conflict with them following his decision to call a special legislative session on gun control. The session is scheduled to take place in July and follows a mass shooting which occurred in Virginia Beach and saw 13 people lose their lives, including the gunman himself.

Happier times could well be ahead for anyone in Virginia who likes a flutter and wants more choices to gamble than just playing the lottery. It appears casinos will have locals on their side, whether it’s because citizens might not have to pay so much in taxes as a result or simply because it would no longer be the lottery or nothing. The Virginia Lottery Board still has the final say, but things are looking hopeful. It’s a space to watch.

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