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A heavily revised plan to make Fairfax County eligible for a casino is moving forward in the Virginia House of Delegates, now carrying a $150 million licensing fee, a 40% gaming tax and a July 1, 2029 deadline for voters to approve a project.

The House General Laws Committee voted 12-7 on Feb. 24 to send Senate Bill 756 to the Appropriations Committee. All four committee members representing parts of Fairfax County, including Chair Paul Krizek, opposed advancing the legislation.

Before the vote, the committee adopted a substitute proposed by Krizek that significantly changes the bill passed by the Senate on Feb. 13. The revisions add labor requirements, reshape how casino revenue would be divided and give voters near a proposed site greater control over whether it can proceed.

Local voters would gain veto power

The Senate approved SB 756 by a 23-14 vote after removing language that effectively limited potential casino locations to Tysons. A casino would still have to be part of a mixed-use development containing at least 1.5 million square feet.

Under the House substitute, Fairfax County would first select a preferred casino operator. That company would have to pay prevailing wages to construction and hospitality workers, contract to employ union labor and provide land or funding for at least one public safety facility, such as a police or fire station, to address the development’s expected effects.

The county would then ask the Virginia Lottery for a preliminary review and permission to conduct a referendum.

Approval would require a majority vote both countywide and within the magisterial district containing the proposed casino. Krizek said that if a casino were proposed in the Springfield District, for example, it could fail with 49% support there even if 80% of voters elsewhere in Fairfax County backed it.

A failed referendum could not be repeated for the same site. If no referendum wins approval before July 1, 2029, the legislation would expire and Fairfax County would lose its casino eligibility.

Those rules would give Fairfax County a different approval process from Bristol, Portsmouth, Danville, Petersburg and Norfolk, where casinos have already been authorized.

County and state would split gaming tax

A successful referendum could lead to a casino license costing $150 million, 10 times the $15 million fee established under Virginia’s 2020 casino law. Half of the fee would go to Fairfax County.

Krizek attributed the increase in part to inflation, saying $15 million no longer carries the value it did seven years ago.

The substitute also calls for a 40% tax on adjusted gross receipts, meaning casino revenue after winnings are paid. Fairfax County would receive half of that tax, while the other half would go to the state.

Virginia’s share would include:

• 5% for problem-gambling treatment and support;
• 5% for a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority capital fund;
• 1% for the Virginia Indigenous People’s Trust Fund;
• 0.8% for open-space preservation;
• 0.2% for a fund supporting child-abuse and domestic-violence prevention and treatment.

Any state revenue left after those allocations would support school construction.

The proposed 50-50 division appears designed to address complaints from Fairfax County officials about the existing casino revenue formula, which provides localities roughly 30% while about 70% benefits the state.

Fairfax County Legislative Affairs Director Jennifer Van Ee thanked Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell, the bill’s patron, for considering local feedback, including requests to remove geographic restrictions. However, she said the Board of Supervisors remained opposed to SB 756 while it reviewed the new substitute.

Van Ee said county officials still had concerns about the revenue division and the absence of an established gaming commission. She also emphasized that Fairfax County had not requested casino authority.

The House passed separate legislation from Krizek on Feb. 17 to establish a Virginia Gaming Commission. That proposal was scheduled for consideration by the Senate General Laws and Technology Committee on Feb. 25.

Labor groups rally behind the project

Labor organizations again testified in favor of the casino bill, with support strengthened by the substitute’s wage and union provisions.

Northern Virginia Labor Federation President Virginia Diamond called SB 756 her organization’s top priority for the legislative session. She argued that a casino development could create middle-class jobs while adding revenue for a county that was unable to fully fund previously promised teacher raises.

Labor leaders formed the Fairfax County Jobs Coalition in 2024 to support a casino. They have said agreements secured from prospective developer Comstock Companies could produce more than 5,000 well-paid union jobs.

Comstock has not released a formal proposal, and Fairfax County would not be required to choose the company. However, it has explored an entertainment district near the Spring Hill Metro station in Tysons.

A flyer distributed to state lawmakers during the 2025 General Assembly session described a possible project with a casino, a 6,000-seat performing arts venue, a 600-room hotel, a convention center, stores and housing.

Don Slaiman, representing the region’s electricians through IBEW Local 26, said one labor agreement would pay housekeepers $34 per hour. He said the unnamed developer had also agreed to use local workers enrolled in union apprenticeship programs throughout construction of a 4-million-square-foot project.

Slaiman described the labor commitments as more extensive than the union’s agreements for Maryland casinos and said Fairfax County residents should have an opportunity to vote.

The Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce has also endorsed the legislation as a way to diversify a regional economy heavily dependent on the federal government. Government relations manager Charlie Russ said the contemplated mixed-use project would bring at least $4 billion in private investment without requiring public funding.

Because there is no guarantee that Comstock would be selected, those specific project and employment projections are not assured. The House substitute would nevertheless require any alternative operator to offer competitive wages and work with unions.

Community groups warn of economic costs

The No Fairfax Casino Coalition, whose members include dozens of homeowners’ associations and the Vienna Town Council, continued to oppose the bill.

Coalition representatives argued that another casino could compete with existing gambling and hospitality businesses while discouraging some companies and residents from locating nearby.

McLean Citizens Association board member Linda Walsh said the proposal would add to an expanding gambling market that already includes fantasy sports and sports betting, with internet gambling and legalized skill games also under consideration. She argued that further expansion could reduce revenue at existing casinos.

House Democrats released a budget proposal on Feb. 22 that anticipates raising $270 million from internet gambling and skill-game operations beginning in 2027.

Tysons Stakeholder Alliance President Paula Martino cited a draft Fairfax County study estimating that a casino development would generate $29.1 million annually for the county and $53 million for Virginia. Those figures were below Comstock’s projections and estimates from a 2019 state study of a potential Northern Virginia casino.

The county estimate included gaming revenue along with sales, meals, real estate, hotel and other taxes. It did not account for residential construction. The study was also commissioned before the current legislative session and appears to have evaluated a project smaller than the 1.5-million-square-foot development now required by the bill.

Martino said a casino would not solve the county’s challenges involving living costs, affordable housing, congestion and school funding, and argued that the projected revenue would fall short of supporters’ promises.

Freedom Virginia, which conducted a 2025 poll finding opposition among Fairfax County voters, urged lawmakers to raise revenue instead by closing tax loopholes benefiting wealthy residents and corporations.

Surovell presses for a public vote

Surovell argued that Fairfax County needs different types of development to attract residents and strengthen its commercial tax base. He pointed to office vacancies in Tysons while presenting the proposed entertainment district as more than a stand-alone casino.

Tysons had a 20% overall office vacancy rate at the end of 2025, according to Tysons Community Alliance data. The rate was unchanged over the previous year and close to the 20.5% national rate reported by commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield.

Surovell said the legislation requires a 1.5-million-square-foot entertainment complex containing convention, event and hotel space. He argued that Fairfax County, despite having a population larger than eight states, lacks a single major convention destination.

He closed by urging lawmakers to allow Fairfax County voters to make the final decision.

Del. Marcia Price of Newport News was the only committee member besides Krizek to speak about the measure. She lamented the failure of other proposals to expand state and local revenue, including measures to restructure Virginia’s income tax and fund Metro and other Northern Virginia transit systems.

Price questioned the wisdom of building government budgets around gambling revenue, noting that casino proceeds had not prevented Maryland from facing a budget deficit. She also warned that many casino customers come from communities that are already struggling and need better-funded schools.