Virginia Governor, Glenn Youngkin, sought to impose tighter restrictions on pending legislation allowing skill-based games throughout the state, but the Senate voted down his amendments by an overwhelming margin leaving the slot-style machines in legal limbo.
Let’s go through the main points behind this rejection and analyze how it may impact the top-rated sportsbooks industry.
Governor Takes Out the Red Pen
Skill-based games’ resemblance to slot machines found at casinos is so similar that many casino operators want them banned. Governor Glenn Youngkin decided that the legislation permitting them was far too relaxed and carved up the legislation with a red pen. Unfortunately for Governor Youngkin, the Senate disagreed with his amendments and voted by a 34-6 margin to reject them.
The amendments that Youngkin imposed would have excluded as much as 90% of the convenience stores in the state. That’s because the governor wrote the following provision: no skill-based games allowed within 35 miles of a casino, horse track, or “historical horse racing” parlor, which features a video horse-racing game similar to slots. Some other amendments by the governor set a statewide cap of 20,000 gray machines and would allow jurisdictions in which the machines operate to outlaw them if they so choose.
Naturally, some appreciated the governor’s efforts like Virginians Against Neighborhood Slot Machines, a coalition that includes casino groups and operators, that applauded Governor Youngkin for the “extensive … time and effort” he expended in amending the bill and taking a “more thoughtful approach” than those who crafted the bill which “would have led to an unprecedented expansion of gambling in Virginia.”
Senate Says, Nay
The sweeping changes were all too much for the Senate. However, the overwhelming bi-partisan rejection of the governor’s amendments could come back to haunt them. If the bill does pass in its original form, the rebuke could set the stage for the governor to even the score with a veto of his own over the skill-based games’, aka gray machines, legislation should it eventually reach his desk.
“I recognize that this bill faces an uncertain future if it goes back to the governor’s desk. But… I stand with small businesses in every corner of our commonwealth urging the governor to do right by small businesses and sign this bill,” Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, was quoted as saying in the report.
Another pointed bone of contention was the governor’s increased tax rate on the skill-based games’ revenue from 25% to 35%, which drew the ire of small businesses that use the machines as another revenue stream.
Despite their differences, there appears to be room for negotiation. “The governor’s concerns with the bill remain and his amendments addressed those concerns,” said Youngkin spokesman Christian Martinez. “He is open to continuing discussion to alleviate issues with both perimeter provisions.”
Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin, a skill game supporter, and lawyer who has done work for Pace-O-Matic, a major skill game manufacturer that is supporting the Senate’s version of the bill, said, “Hopefully cooler heads prevail both in the governor’s office and here in the legislature. I think ultimately a solution for the budget and for skill games is in the works.”
However, other groups agreed with Youngkin’s wide-ranging amendments that tightened up the number of skill-based games in the Commonwealth, and one of them commented after his proposals were soundly defeated.
“That is the only course of action to ensure public safety, protect vulnerable communities, and to prevent every neighborhood in Virginia from becoming a mini-Las Vegas,” per a statement from Virginians Against Neighborhood Slot Machines, “It should tell Virginians everything they need to know that ‘skill games’ proponents threw a tantrum at the mere prospect of modest regulatory protections.”
