Lawmakers narrowly pass bill to legalize online casinos in Virginia

Virginia came one step closer to legalizing online casinos after the Senate approved a bill to authorize state-regulated iGaming in the state and advanced it to the House for potential concurrence. That said, SB 118 didn't exactly coast through the Senate, as a call for reconsideration after initial rejection of the bill led to a narrow two-vote approval in the chamber.

As introduced by Sen. Mamie Locke, SB 118 carves out three real money online casino licenses for each of the five land-based casinos in the state, meaning there could be upward of 15 online casinos in Virginia.

As regulated by the Virginia Lottery Board, the state would require initial licensing fees of $500,000 per skin or $2 million to offer three online platforms. In addition, there would be a tax rate of 20, with 3% of that total going toward the Gaming Regulatory Fund, 2% to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund and the remaining 95% to the Modern Public Education Fund.

According to estimates, Virginia online casinos could generate $343 million in state revenue by fiscal year 2028. All that said, SB 118 faced a difficult climb out of the Senate, with an initial vote of 20-19 against passage occurring before a senator called for reconsideration. Then, legislators voted again on the bill and advanced it by a slim 19-17 margin, with three senators who originally voted against passage abstaining from the second vote.

Now, SB 118 heads to the House, which has its own companion bill to legalize casino games online in Virginia.

Similar to the Senate, the House needed a motion to reconsider in order to pass HB 161. There are differences among the two proposals, meaning lawmakers in each chamber will need to work toward an agreement on the best path forward to legalize Virginia online casinos and allow users to find the highest RTP slots in a new market.

While the Senate bill would legalize iGaming this year, actual implementation would be delayed until July 1, 2027, with the Virginia Lottery required to finalize regulations by January. 

The House, meanwhile, advanced its bill with a requirement that it must pass the full legislature in both 2026 and 2027, which would hold off the launch of Virginia online casinos until 2028 at the earliest.

What both chambers did agree on in their bills, though, is that enacting either into law would also ban online sweepstakes casinos if they are not licensed as iGaming operators.

If either bill is signed into law, it would set up Virginia to become the second state in 2026 to legalize online casinos, following on the heels of a Maine online casino bill being enacted into law a few weeks ago.

Grant Lucas