For a second year in a row, the Virginia Senate will consider legislation that could pave the way for a casino in Fairfax County.
Senate Bill 756, championed by Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-34), was advanced on a 10-5 vote yesterday (Tuesday) by the chamber’s Finance and Appropriations Committee with a key revision — criteria that limited potential casino sites to Tysons have now been dropped.
“The committee substitute removes the mandated location of the casino,” April Kees, the committee’s staff director, said when asked to describe the amendment in a resources subcommittee hearing. “That is, I believe, the only difference.”
Among Northern Virginia senators, Surovell was joined in supporting the amended bill by Dave Marsden (D-36) — who had unsuccessfully carried it in 2024 — while Jennifer Boysko (D-38), Adam Ebbin (D-39) and Barbara Favola (D-40) were among the opponents.
Reintroduced by Surovell after stalling in the House of Delegates last year, the bill would add Fairfax County to Virginia’s list of localities eligible to host a casino gaming establishment. The list currently only includes the five cities of Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Petersburg after Richmond voters turned down two different referendums.
As in past years, the legislation included specific criteria for where in Fairfax County a casino could be located, essentially reducing its scope to Tysons:
The eligible host locality described in subdivision A 6 shall be limited to a proposed site for a casino gaming establishment that is (i) located within one-quarter of a mile of an existing station on the Metro Silver Line, (ii) part of a coordinated mixed-use project development consisting of no less than 1.5 million square feet, (iii) within two miles of a regional enclosed mall containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area, and (iv) outside of the Interstate 495 Beltway.
That provision was eliminated in the substitute bill approved “in concept” by the finance committee yesterday and released publicly today (Wednesday).
During the brief resources subcommittee hearing, Surovell noted that he and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee chair L. Louise Lucas (D-18) had advocated for Virginia to allow casinos back in 2016 after MGM National Harbor opened that December in Maryland, just across the Potomac River from his district in southeastern Fairfax County.
“That casino is still going strong, sucking money out of our state every day, and I want to get some of that money back into our state to pay for our schools and school construction all around the entire state,” Surovell said. “If we had one in Fairfax County, it would generate about $2 billion a decade for school construction in Virginia and also probably generate at least over $100 million for Fairfax County.”
Fairfax County leaders have expressed skepticism of the financial windfall envisioned by Surovell and other casino proponents, arguing that the tax revenue split established by state law would disproportionately benefit the Commonwealth instead of the host locality.
Voting in December to oppose any bill to establish a casino in Fairfax that it hasn’t requested, the Board of Supervisors also argued that Surovell’s legislation would undermine local authority to oversee land use decisions.
Community objections to casino unchanged
A spokesperson for Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay’s office said he had no comment to provide on the amended bill right now, but anti-casino community groups at least remain unmoved.
“The removal of the site criteria in the bill does not exclude Tysons,” Tysons Stakeholder Alliance President Paula Martino told FFXnow. “Our position that a casino is wrong for Tysons and Fairfax County is unchanged.”
Lynne Mulston, chair of the No Fairfax Casino Coalition, told Patch that the grassroots group will continue to lobby against SB 756, including by organizing a trip to Richmond on Thursday (Feb. 12) so members can talk to lawmakers in person.
“No one in Fairfax County has asked for this, except the politicians who introduced it and the developer who stands to profit if it moves forward,” she said in a statement to Patch.
The Reston-based developer Comstock Companies has proposed building a casino near the Spring Hill Metro station as part of a larger “entertainment district” that could include housing, a convention center, a hotel, a performing arts venue and an IMAX movie theater.
If SB 756 becomes law, a referendum must be scheduled by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and passed by voters for a casino to officially be allowed.
The casino operator would then be selected by the state through a competitive licensing process. The future development would also need to undergo local zoning and permitting reviews.
The criteria limiting a possible Fairfax County casino site to Tysons was added to Marsden’s legislation in 2024 after an initial report that Comstock was eyeing the Wiehle Metro station area prompted an outcry from Reston residents.
Reston Association, which represents 65,000 homeowners in the area, expressed relief when the criteria in Marsden’s proposed bill excluded Reston from consideration, but it has continued to advocate against a casino anywhere in Fairfax County — a stance that the board of directors voted today to maintain.
“Reston Association is disappointed at the news that SB 756, which would allow for a casino in Fairfax County, was amended to remove location-specific language in the bill and passed through the Senate Finance and Appropriations Resource Subcommittee this morning,” RA said in a statement. “Reston Association maintains that a casino is detrimental to our community and goes against the careful planning that has been a part of Reston for more than six decades.”
When asked about her vote, Boysko, whose district includes Reston, Herndon and McLean, said she appreciates the substitute bill’s intent “to remove Tysons Corner as the mandated location for this proposed development,” but she continues to hear strong opposition to a casino anywhere in Fairfax County from her constituents and other residents.
“When the General Assembly set the policy to allow casinos in Virginia, it was the localities who petitioned the General Assembly requesting the authority which still has not occurred in Fairfax County,” Boysko said in a statement to FFXnow. “Unless I hear differently from my constituents I will stand with them and continue to oppose this bill.”
