Steve Burns
WMAL.com
RICHMOND – (WMAL) A bill legalizing slot gaming at a shuttered horse race track outside Richmond could be the start of a changing tide against casinos in Virginia, according to one lawmaker.
Colonial Downs, shuttered in 2014, is set to see new life in the form of horse-betting slots following a bill approved by the General Assembly in its 2018 session, which wrapped up last weekend.
“I think it creates an opening, and it sends the message that at least Virginia’s open to considering these kinds of things…I think Colonial Downs probably changes the discussion,” State Senator Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) told WMAL. “The Colonial Downs bill passed with a pretty significant margin in both chambers, which shows you that there does not seem to be a big moral objection within the legislature to gambling. I think that’s a good sign.”
Surovell said former House Speaker William Howell was a staunch gambling opponent, standing in the way of any gaming bills over his 15-year tenure. But Howell has since retired, and the makeup of the two chambers is getting younger, Surovell said.
“I’m not sure that the political lines are quite as clear as they are more age lines,” he said. “I think some older conservative members might view it differently than younger conservative members.”
Another big impetus could be the successful first year of the MGM Casino at National Harbor, just across the Potomac from Virginia, and no doubt attracting revenue from the Commonwealth.
“It’s sucking $150 million plus in revenue a year out of Virginia, into Maryland,” Surovell said.
With MGM’s success, Surovell said another casino on the Virginia side of the D.C. suburbs is unlikely. The most likely prospect, he said, is a gaming facility in Hampton Roads.
“To make it really happen, I think we have to have somebody that’s interested in opening a casino come into Virginia, come to the legislature and say, ‘We’d like to take a really hard look at this. We’re interested in investing,’” he said. “I think that might prompt more discussions about it.”
Governor Ralph Northam recently came out in support of casino gaming, telling reporters according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, “There’s a tremendous amount of money in Virginia that’s going across state lines, whether it be in West Virginia or Maryland or Delaware. And I think we’ve got to be open-minded. Certainly we don’t want to do something that’s regressive to people or is hurtful to people. But if there are individuals who want to do that and are going to other states, I think we should be open-minded in Virginia.”
Surovell echoed those comments.
“It just seems to me that people are going to gamble, and if they’re going to gamble, we ought to allow that and make money off of it as a state,” he said.
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