A Virginia Senate subcommittee has advanced the Tysons casino bill, setting it up for further consideration after its 2025 defeat in a House of Delegates committee.
The Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology voted 5-3 today (Friday) in favor of the legislation from Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-34) to add Fairfax County as an eligible host for a casino.
The bill will now go to the full Senate General Laws and Technology, which would make a recommendation to advance to the full Senate.
Surovell’s SB 756 is identical to one he brought forward in the General Assembly’s 2025 session, the state senator told the subcommittee. Like before, it includes criteria that would limit any potential casino site in Fairfax County to a mixed-use development in Tysons within a quarter mile of a Silver Line Metro station and outside the Capital Beltway.
At the subcommittee’s meeting, State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-39) questioned why the bill limited the casino location to Tysons, rather than letting Fairfax County consider any option.
Surovell said the state has an interest in the casino project boosting the Silver Line corridor, given its investment in Metro’s expansion there. It also needs a viable location not too close to the MGM National Harbor casino just across the Potomac River in Maryland.
The state senator maintained that Virginia is losing out on revenue that would support Virginia schools and Fairfax County’s budget, along with additional economic opportunities such as the Sphere entertainment center recently proposed in National Harbor.
“We’ve invested about $6 billion in the Silver Line, and that was a state decision to make that investment,” Surovell told the subcommittee. “We invested exactly for this kind of development. If this project is going to maximize revenue to both the state and the county, that’s where it has to be.”
Surovell argued that Tysons “is not thriving,” referencing Booz Allen Hamilton’s planned headquarters relocation to Reston and the county’s anticipated budget deficit.
“All the development there has stalled. Commercial office buildings are half empty,” Surovell said. “Fairfax County’s commercial property tax is cratering. Their office buildings are selling at 30 percent of their tax assessed value.”
The overall office vacancy rate in Tysons has hovered around 20% for more than a year now, though leasing increased in the third quarter of 2025, according to data collected by the Tysons Community Alliance. While commercial development has been limited, multiple residential projects are under construction, including two affordable housing complexes and a condominium development.
If approved, the casino bill would require a voter referendum to allow development of a Tysons casino. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted in December to officially oppose any legislation allowing a casino in the county’s boundaries unless it’s requested by them.
The Tysons Stakeholders Alliance, a coalition of residents, workers and other community members opposed to a casino, said the subcommittee vote was “rushed through with less than 24 hours’ notice.”
“We are deeply disappointed that this bill advanced today,” said Paula Martino, president of the Tysons Stakeholders Alliance. “The Tysons community remains united in its opposition, and we will continue to make our voices heard in the weeks ahead as legislators debate a bill that has no business being in the General Assembly this session.”
Local opposition to a casino development in Tysons has only grown since the possibility was first raised in 2024. Jennifer Van Ee, legislative director for Fairfax County, told the subcommittee the county government opposes the bill because of its potential to undermine local land use authority and the proposed state and local revenue split.
Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert has been a frequent speaker at the General Assembly to oppose the casino bill.
“Every year when I head to Richmond to speak against this notion, I hear from hundreds of residents of Vienna opposing a casino and listing many reasons, ranging from safety to diverting funds from charitable gaming,” said Colbert. “Towns, cities and counties in Virginia like to do what is best for their area, for their residents. Fairfax County did not ask permission to build a casino. We do not want it.”
Jennifer Falcone, a Great Falls Citizens Association representative with the No Fairfax Casino Coalition, called for the senators to hold the bill indefinitely until the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission conducts a study on the casino’s economic impact.
Linda Walsh with the McLean Citizens Association said the casino is at odds with the economic climate in surrounding communities like McLean.
“We hear whispers from the businesses … They’re very concerned that a casino doesn’t fit in not only with their businesses but their employees that are living within the area,” Walsh said.
Others representing union groups spoke in support of the casino legislation based on agreements that would support union jobs for the casino’s construction and operations.
“We have a strong agreement that when the casino is open and the workers are hired, that they will have a fair and neutral environment to decide whether or not to join a union, and their right to organize will be respected,” said Mike Hachey, a policy director at the Unite Here labor union. “So, for workers in Northern Virginia who are struggling to get by in low-wage jobs, this is an opportunity to create thousands of jobs that can lift people up, to create good jobs that will allow people to send their kids to college, to afford housing and basic necessities.”
Virginia Diamond, president of the Northern Virginia Labor Federation representing various unions in the region, said “the working class residents of Fairfax County deserve the right to have a vote” on the casino through the referendum.
Comstock Companies previously shared a vision for a casino-anchored development with a potential performing arts venue, a hotel, a convention center, housing and retail. Surovell told the subcommittee there are several sites in Tysons that would fit the casino legislation’s criteria.
