Virginia began legalizing casinos in 2020 with the first wager cast in 2022. Now, years later, there are three fully functioning casino sites in Bristol, Danville and Portsmouth, and more on the way.
And while recent gambling revenue numbers have dipped across the state, elected officials are holding judgement as more casinos and gambling alternatives are expected to be considered under the new state gambling authority.
“By all real measures we believe we are achieving the goals we set out when we came into Danville,” said Chris Albrecht with Caesars Virginia, the Southside Virginia casino that opened in 2023.
Albrecht was speaking at Monday’s meeting of the Virginia Gaming Commission study workgroup. It intends to create a new state-wide authority to oversee the exploding numbers of online and in-person gambling options.
Among local positive impacts Albrecht cited since the facility’s opening was the only Gordan Ramsay restaurant in the Commonwealth, a large-scale convention center and an estimated 2 million visitors by the end of this year. Perhaps most importantly is the $676 million in revenue they’ve collected since May 2023 which trickled down into $128 million in taxes to the state and $64 million directly to Danville.
But Senator Jeremy McPike, a member of the commission, was alerted to September revenue reports which showed income dropped at Caesars by about $6 million. It’s a trend which, according to local reporting, hit every casino across the Commonwealth making last month the worst for revenue collection since the state started tracking.
Albrecht said a few factors could have caused what McPike called a “slow down:”
“Off the bat September was off to a rough start. I think other people could say other macro-economic factors are layering on top of that,” he said. “Perhaps nicer seasonality was allowing people to do other things in September, so we’ll see.”
Speaking after Monday’s meeting, McPike said he was withholding judgement on what this means for future casinos proposals until a few more months of revenue get reported: “I think it's too early to tell at this point whether it was a few bad weekends or the expansion of illegal gaming across Virginia.”
Senator Lashrecse Aird isn't on the committee but plans to carry the bill with the final gaming authority language next year. She wondered if the drop in revenues may be linked to consumers being more cautious about spending.
Still, she was optimistic, especially after the Petersburg casino in her district was overwhelmingly approved by voters.
"Given that this is a singular month and the overall revenues tear-over-year are still trending positively, we'll need more month to reflect a loss to determine if a trend is forming," she told Radio IQ in a text message.
Igaming Impact
McPike and Aird's comments speak to one of the other discussion points brought up during Monday’s meeting: the future of Igaming.
Igaming was more exhaustively considered at the committee's August meeting. At the time, Delegate Marcus Simon warned regulation may seem less than ideal, but it could “starve the bad actors out of business by providing a legal, regulated and taxed alternative that’s more consumer friendly.”
While Monday's meeting was designed to hear from existing and future casino operators, McPike and others often expressed concerns about how brick and mortar locations could have gambling business cannibalized by Igaming or the legalization gas station skill games.
“I’m not speaking as a proponent for any form of gaming, I'm just raising a question; with all the technology, online, people can get on their phones [and gamble] are you saying, because of free market, people shouldn’t be able to do that and its problematic for the industry?” Delegate Luke Torian asked Antonio Perez with Rivers Casino & Resort in Portsmouth.
Committee vice chair Delegate Paul Krizek shared Torian’s concerns and asked specifically about skill game impact. Perez said there was a slight bump when skill games were made illegal again but that could have been a fluke.
“The state is very new, some of the trends we’re seeing are still starting to iron out," he said. "Once all the competitors are live, we’ll have a better picture.”
Among the harshest critics of alternative gaming options was Mark Stewart with Cordish Companies. They’re building a casino in Petersburg that’s about to open a temporary tent facility before completing construction on a larger facility in 2027.
“It’s a casino issue. [Igaming] threatens the benefits that casinos can bring to the Commonwealth. You don’t have to leave your house, all hours of the day,” Stewart said of the rapid growth of online gaming. “This device is already designed to bring us back over and over again, but the games are also engineered to make people gamble more and faster.”
Still, officials noted Cordish not only runs other casinos in Pennsylvania, but also an online gaming outfit after The Keystone State legalized it.
“It’s legal there so we got the license," he said before noting they lobbied against legalization and they’d be happy to give up that license if it was made illegal again.
“We’ve made a couple dollars on the Igaming side, but we’ve lost far more of that on brick and mortar,” he added.
Future Enforcement
Officials and Stewart also opined on possible solutions to illegal online gaming; New York, the Cordish rep said, is focusing enforcement efforts on phone platforms that allow players to access games illegally, payment processors who transfer money and even celebrities who promote illegal services in their borders.
“Enforcement is an example of how to address the legal environment,” Stewart said.
As for existing enforcement, Khalid Jones with Virginia Lottery said their enforcement arm for casinos is funded by licensing fees: $15 million per decade per establishment. But those funds will dry up by 2029, even with the two other, yet-to-be-approved facilities in the pipeline.
“It’s not an issue for tomorrow, it's far in the future, but it needs to be on the radar,” Jones said.
In the short term, Jones said Virginia Lottery was considering things like an official seal on all legal gambling products. He said other states have been aggressive with cease-and-desist letters sent to app stores to get them shut offenders down.
“But those are band aids,” he warned.
Jones also gave a breakdown on total casino revenues and impacts on state and local coffers: About $830 million was taken in by casinos in 2025 so far, with $157 million collect in taxes. $51 million of that, or 1/3, went to local and regional improvement commissions while the rest, $104 million, went into a school construction fund.
That was a $19 million increase over tax collections in 2024.
This was the last meeting of the Virginia Gambling Commission study group until the 2026 session. Language defining the new gaming authority could become public as early as late December.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
