Gov. Spanberger blocked legislation that would have forced Fairfax County to hold a referendum on a proposed casino
Gov. Abigail Spanberger vetoed the legislation on the grounds that it would strip the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors of control over the local approval process and set a broader precedent undermining local decision-making on gambling across the Commonwealth. The veto carries significant implications for how Virginia handles casino expansion.
Gov. Spanberger noted that since the General Assembly first authorized casinos in 2020, all five cities where casinos now operate actively sought the authority to hold referendums and strongly advocated for their projects. This is a standard Senate Bill 756 would override for Fairfax by forcing a referendum the county’s own board explicitly opposed.
The governor also noted that the legislation would further restrict local decision-making by enabling legislators in Richmond to assign the specific location of the casino, something that has not occurred in any other casino authorization in the Commonwealth’s history. Gov. Spanberger’s concerns go beyond this individual measure.
The governor reiterated her ongoing concern about continuous efforts to expand gaming across Virginia without a single, independent, and dedicated statewide entity responsible for regulating all legal forms of gaming across the Commonwealth, calling such a unified regulatory structure essential to ensuring transparency, accountability, and public confidence.
The veto message states that existing law already gives the General Assembly the power to declare a locality eligible for a casino, at which point the local governing body faces a non-discretionary, ministerial duty to adopt a resolution and petition the court to hold the referendum, but this process was designed for localities that wanted the referendum, not those that explicitly oppose it.
Gov. Spanberger indicated she remains committed to working with the General Assembly on a unified gaming regulatory framework going forward.
