Despite weeks of debate and revisions, the Senate Bill 756 that the Virginia General Assembly sent to Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk before adjourning on Saturday (March 14) wound up being exactly the same as the one introduced when the legislative session began in January.
After requesting a second conference to some groans from his colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-34) reverted to his original language for a new substitute bill to allow casino gaming in Fairfax County, limiting potential sites to a 1.5-million-square-foot mixed-use development in Tysons but otherwise treating Fairfax the same as the five cities in Virginia already eligible to host a casino.
Gone were provisions accepted by the Senate on Friday (March 13) that would’ve allowed a temporary casino prior to a local referendum and split gaming tax revenue from a permanent establishment evenly between the state and county, an alternative to the existing formula that sends roughly 70% of proceeds to the state and 30% to the host locality.
“Basically, this is the bill we adopted last year,” Surovell said.
The State Senate voted 25-13 and the House of Delegates voted 55-41 to accept the bill, sending it to the governor for the first time after previous iterations in 2024 and 2025 fell short.
Surovell and the other legislators assigned to negotiate a final version of SB 756, including fellow Fairfax Sen. Dave Marsden (D-35), appear to have backtracked after the proposal to allow a temporary casino without any local oversight or approval drew a fierce outcry not only from community groups that have vocally opposed a casino, but also the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the House of Delegates.
Led by Chairman Jeff McKay, the board sent a letter to Fairfax County’s delegates in the House on Friday urging them to oppose SB 756, calling the temporary casino provision in particular a “problematic” and “deeply short-sighted” move that would undermine the local government’s authority to make land use decisions and guide development in communities like Tysons.
“The latest version of S.B. 756 was crafted by pro-casino advocates that do not represent Tysons, in the eleventh hour of session, out of the public’s view,” the board members said. “It is bad enough to disrespect the wishes of Fairfax County voters and their duly elected representatives; it is worse to do so in a way that undermines planned development in one of the economic drivers of the entire Commonwealth.”
Following Saturday’s votes, McKay thanked the county’s House delegation for seeing “right through this power grab” and challenging the Senate’s initial conference report.
While a majority of Fairfax County’s senators supported SB 756, with state Sens. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-33) and Stella Pekarsky (D-36) joining Surovell and Marsden, only three of the 15 delegates representing Fairfax County voted for it even after the temporary casino provision was dropped. The three supporters were Del. Laura Jane Cohen (D-15), recently elected Garrett McGuire (D-17) and Rozia Henson Jr. (D-19).
“The House ultimately approved a bill that still raises serious concerns, but retains some local authority,” McKay said in a statement on Saturday. “… I will continue to fight any and all efforts to jam a casino in Tysons.”
Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik, whose district includes most of Tysons, also thanked House Speaker Don Scott (D-88) and the House of Delegates for removing the provisions added on Friday by the state Senate and called on Spanberger to veto the bill.
“If the antics of the last 24 hours have made one thing clear, it’s that this legislation is not being put forward in good faith by its patron,” Palchik wrote in a statement on Saturday. “The prescribed location and lousy financial deal for Fairfax make a mockery of local land use authority and take financial advantage of our community.”
In a move led by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, whose district includes a portion of western Tysons, the Board of Supervisors narrowly voted in December to formally oppose any state legislation to allow a casino in Fairfax County that they had not requested.
Alcorn joined Palchik in explicitly urging Spanberger to veto the newly passed bill.
“We did not ask for it, and we don’t want it,” Alcorn said in a statement released last night (Sunday).
Spanberger has until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, April 13 to sign, veto or amend all of the legislation sent to her desk.
This story initially said all Fairfax County delegates voted against Senate Bill 756, overlooking that three had in fact voted for it. Thank you to Paula Martino with the Tysons Stakeholders Alliance for pointing out the error.
