Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, has vetoed a bill that would have made Fairfax County eligible for a casino.
Ms. Spanberger’s office explained in a release that under state law, once a locality becomes eligible as a casino location, local authorities are required to petition a court to hold a referendum on whether the casino should be built.
Authorities in Fairfax County, Ms. Spanberger said Thursday, “explicitly opposed this legislation, and an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly members who represent Fairfax voted against it.”
One exception for Senate Bill 756 was its chief patron, Virginia Senate Majority Leader Sen. Scott Surovell, a Democrat for the 34th district, which includes the city of Fairfax and parts of the county.
The bill stipulated that any future casino be built within 0.25 miles of a Metrorail Silver line station, outside the U.S. Interstate 495 Beltway, within a mixed-use development at least 1.5 million square feet in size and within 2 miles of a “regional enclosed mall containing not less than 1.5 million square feet of gross building area.”
The stipulations meant that the casino would have been built somewhere in Tysons, according to WTOP-FM.
Currently, Virginia has five other casinos, all south of Richmond: Hard Rock Bristol, Caesars Virginia in Danville, The Interim Gaming Hall Norfolk, Rivers Casino Portsmouth and Live! Petersburg, per the Virginia Lottery.
Ms. Spanberger said that “in no other circumstance has the General Assembly prescribed specifications for a casino’s location. This effectively precludes local input and eliminates local decisions. … it would set a precedent to bring casino referendums to other localities where the local governing board may similarly oppose such an effort.”
In his own release following the veto, Mr. Surovell said the referendum would have still offered local voters a chance to decide whether to build a casino, and that revenue from Virginian gamblers should be going into state coffers instead of those of its neighbors.
“This bill would also have ended, once and for all, the absurd economic reality that Virginia taxpayers drive across the Potomac to spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year at MGM National Harbor and at casinos in West Virginia – dollars that generate tax revenue for Maryland schools and Maryland infrastructure while Virginia gets nothing. That is a subsidy of our neighbors, paid for by our own residents, and this veto ensures it continues,” Mr. Surovell said.
Mr. Surovell also brought up the miniature “Sphere” that is coming to National Harbor, a smaller version of the entertainment venue in Las Vegas. The National Harbor Sphere is expected to bring in at least $1 billion in revenue. Mr. Surovell cited a study that claims the new Sphere will bring in $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
“While we stood still, Maryland ran. The Sphere, one of the most iconic and transformative entertainment venues in the world — is going to MGM National Harbor, not Tysons. … That is $1.5 billion every single year flowing to our neighbors across the Potomac — jobs, tax revenue, and tourism that belong in Virginia, serving Virginia families,” Mr. Surovell said.
Maryland’s casinos continue to bring money into the state’s coffers. In March, the Maryland Gaming Commission said, the state’s six casinos brought in more than $168 million in revenue, with almost $72.4 million going to the state.
MGM National Harbor in particular brought in over $72.1 million on its own, a 2.4% year-over-year increase compared to March 2025, the Maryland Gaming Commission said.
The Oxon Hill casino is estimated to get 30% to 40% of its revenue from Virginia gamblers, according to WAMU-FM analyst Tom Sherwood.
In fiscal year 2025 overall, Maryland’s casinos had more than $1.96 billion in revenue.
Of that money, more than $606 million went to the Maryland Education Trust Fund; over $105 million was used to aid the local jurisdictions near the six casinos; more than $20.3 million went to the state’s Small, Minority and Women-Owned Business/Commerce Fund, and more than $4.44 million went to the state’s Problem Gambling Fund, the Maryland Gaming Commission said.
While Mr. Surovell was dismayed at the veto, local opponents to Senate Bill 756 in northern Virginia cheered Ms. Spanberger’s decision.
“On behalf of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and our over 1 million residents, I would like to thank Governor Spanberger for her veto of SB756, also known as the casino bill,” said Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Jeff McKay, a Democrat, in a statement. “This veto demonstrates the governor’s respect for local authority and being responsive to those we represent. Our residents have been clear in their overwhelming opposition to a casino.”
The grassroots No Fairfax Casino Coalition said in a release that Ms. Spanberger “made the right decision” and that “claims that a casino would solve vacancy or economic problems in Tysons were not supported by independent analysis.”
Mr. Surovell said Tysons relies too much on office buildings that have been hurt by telework, telling Axios that in general, “the county’s economic development plan is stuck in 1990s thinking.”
The No Fairfax Casino Coalition said on its website that a casino would “hurt local businesses, increase gridlock and public safety problems, lower property values, and encourage risky behaviors, while forever changing the character of our community.”
