The push to allow a casino in Fairfax County has officially entered new territory.
After tabling similar legislation proposed by state Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35) last year, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee voted 9-6 this morning (Tuesday) to report Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell’s (D-34) bill to add the county to Virginia’s list of eligible casino hosts to the full chamber.
The Senate is expected to hear S.B. 982 and vote on its passage this Friday (Jan. 31), Surovell’s office says. The bill, which gives the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the authority to call for a voter referendum on whether to allow a casino, will still need to pass the House of Delegates before going to Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s desk.
In a statement, Surovell said the committee’s decision to advance the bill indicated that a majority of members were satisfied that concerns about a possible Fairfax County casino were addressed by a 2019 gaming study conducted by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), which projected that a Northern Virginia casino could generate an additional $155 million in statewide gaming tax revenue.
According to the report, a Northern Virginia casino would attract “substantial revenue from out-of-state customers” and help retain the approximately $100 million that Virginia residents spend at casinos in other states, including at the MGM National Harbor Hotel and Casino in Maryland.
At a Senate subcommittee hearing last week, Fairfax County’s legislative director and lobbyist, Claudia Arko, noted that JLARC didn’t specifically study Fairfax as a potential casino host.
While a final casino operator and location wouldn’t be selected until after a referendum passes, Reston Station developer Comstock Companies has been advocating for the chance to build the facility as part of an entertainment district with housing, retail, a hotel, a convention center and a performing arts venue near the Spring Hill Metro Station in Tysons.
“This project presents a huge opportunity to fund school construction in the Commonwealth,” Surovell said. “The majority of the Fairfax County Delegation to the General Assembly supports giving Fairfax County’s [local] government the authority to let voters decide if they support an entertainment district in the County.”
The Virginia Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations just voted 9-6 to report out the bill to authorize a casino in Tysons.
Yet a recent poll shows that almost 8 out of 10 Tysons residents oppose a casino: www.casino.org/news/eight-in-10-tysons-voters-oppose-northern-virginia-casino-bill
— Supervisor Walter Alcorn (@walteralcorn.bsky.social) January 28, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Surovell’s bill got the backing of Marsden and committee chair L. Louise Lucas (D-18), among others, but the finance committee’s other three Northern Virginia members — Sens. Jennifer Boysko (D-38), Adam Ebbin (D-39) and Barbara Favola (D-40) — notably opposed it.
During the committee hearing, Surovell, whose district encompasses southeastern Fairfax County, highlighted the potential revenue that a casino in the county could bring to the state, while Boysko, who represents Reston, Herndon, McLean and Great Falls, stressed that Fairfax County didn’t request the authority for a casino, unlike other localities that have been approved as hosts, Patch reported.
County board chair questions casino benefits
Though the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hasn’t adopted an official stance for or against Surovell’s bill, Chairman Jeff McKay sent a letter to Virginia General Assembly leaders yesterday (Monday) reiterating the board’s skepticism of proponents’ rationale that a casino would help offset declines in the county’s commercial tax base and “revitalize Tysons.”
The legislation being considered by the General Assembly includes requirements limiting a possible casino to a site along Metro’s Silver Line corridor in Tysons.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent shift to remote/hybrid work has, of course, impacted Fairfax County’s commercial office market, we feel the need to emphasize that Tysons, and especially the Class A office space in close proximity to Tysons’ four Silver Line Metro stations, continues to thrive,” McKay wrote in the letter.
Office vacancy rates in Tysons remain high post-pandemic, climbing from 14% in mid-2020 to 22% as of Sept. 30, 2024, according to a quarterly market report released last fall by the Tysons Community Alliance. However, more granular data indicated that demand is strong for higher-end, “trophy” properties near transit and other amenities, while older, more suburban-style buildings struggle.
With Fairfax County facing a $292.7 million budget deficit that could prevent it from funding teacher raises and other needs, Surovell says critics of the casino haven’t proposed any alternatives for filling that gap beyond continuing to raise real estate taxes.
McKay, however, argued in his letter that the county could lower its property tax rate by as much as 17.5 cents if the General Assembly provided the additional $568.7 million it owes Fairfax County Public Schools, as determined by a 2023 JLARC study.
“This would in turn save homeowners an average of $1,300 on their tax bill,” McKay wrote. “… Implementing that watershed [JLARC] study is the top priority of Fairfax County and localities throughout Virginia, as it should also be for the state.”
The county is also considering implementing a meals tax, among other revenue options, though they likely won’t generate enough money to fully address the current or future budget shortfalls.
Alcorn, community groups reiterate opposition
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, one of the board’s most vocal opponents to a casino, told FFXnow that he’s “disappointed but not particularly surprised” by the Senate finance committee voting to advance Surovell’s bill.
He attributed the bill’s success this session compared to the 2024 session to a concerted lobbying effort by Comstock, which has contributed $617,147 to various state political committees over the past two years, including to Lucas and Surovell’s campaign coffers.
“It’s possible that … the proponents throwing more money at political campaigns and at political consultants is helping their cause, let’s put it that way,” Alcorn said, noting that he saw Comstock representives walking the General Assembly halls when he visited Richmond yesterday for a transit advocacy day.
Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, who represents most of Tysons, including the area that Comstock is seeking to develop, has remained neutral on the bill. At her office’s inaugural Lunar New Year open house last Thursday (Jan. 23), she told FFXnow that she’s continuing to monitor the bill but is open to “any time we can get local authority, as long it doesn’t take away from the need of that JLARC study to fund our local schools.”
As Surovell’s legislation heads to the full Senate, community members who’ve mobilized against the proposed casino, forming groups like the No Casino Coalition and Tysons Stakeholders Alliance, vowed to keep making their opposition known — including at the polls.
While the Virginia State Senate won’t have its next election until 2027, all House of Delegates seats will be on the ballot this November.
“We are shocked and dismayed that this bill continues to move given that the community is overwhelmingly opposed to the casino,” Tysons Stakeholders Alliance President Paula Martino said in a statement. “No elected official representing Tysons has asked for this legislation. Every single community within Greater Tysons is against it.”
The alliance, a group of Tysons residents, workers and other community members that formed in partnership with the Rotonda Condominiums, released poll results yesterday that found 64% of 500 surveyed “likely” voters oppose a casino being built in Tysons. The opposition increased to 79% among Tysons residents.
“We can’t wait to get the list from Senator Surovell on which Fairfax County senators he mentioned support this bill, because they will be serving their last term in office,” Martino said. “Through our collective canvassing efforts, we have enough votes to primary and defeat virtually any Fairfax County elected official who votes in favor of a Tysons casino or doesn’t come out strong against it. We are tired of being ignored.”
