Are skill games dead or alive as special session approaches?

RICHMOND – At a meeting of Virginia’s Gambling Addiction Advisory Council late last month, Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, a bold prediction.

The fight over whether the state should legalize the slot machine-like slot machines known as games of skill stalled in April due to political disagreements between the General Assembly and Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

There have been signs that efforts to legalize skill games could potentially be revived by including them in the unfinished state budget that lawmakers are expected to finalize next week.

But Krizek said he doesn’t think that will happen and believes efforts to legalize skill games are probably dead for this year.

“I would be very surprised if the skill gaming (bill) was somehow revived in the budget process,” Krizek, a skill gaming critic and chairman of a House subcommittee that studies gambling issues, told the Problem Gambling Panel at its April 24 meeting.

As the special session approaches, it is becoming increasingly unlikely that the House, Senate and governor’s office will reach an agreement on skill games. But it’s not completely ruled out yet, meaning it’s unclear whether or not games of skill will be on the General Assembly’s agenda when it convenes for a special session on Monday.

On Wednesday evening, Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said he and other members of the House and Senate negotiating the budget had not reached a consensus for the future of skill games.

“But we still leave open the possibility that some things can be resolved by tomorrow,” he said.

Youngkin and leaders of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly are trying to find a compromise between two competing budget plans they crafted earlier this year. None of the proposals serving as the basis for these negotiations include lifting Virginia’s recent ban on the thousands of gaming machines installed in convenience stores, truck stops and restaurants across the state.

If there are any plans in the works to include language legalizing skill games in the budget, no one will release details about them.

Youngkin’s office declined to comment for this story.

House Appropriations Chairman Luke Torian, D-Prince William, Senate Finance and Appropriations Chairman Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, and several other lawmakers did not respond to requests for comment.

It’s unclear whether this silence is a sign that policymakers are on the verge of abandoning the idea of ​​a skill game deal for this year, or whether they are trying to keep last-minute talks under wraps. Either way, they’re running out of time to figure it out.

Under the special session schedule set by leaders, the renegotiated budget would be announced no later than Monday, meaning just a few days remain to make final decisions on whether the standoff in the game of skill will be resolved will or not the budget.

Responding to pleas from business owners who say their livelihoods depend on extra money from the now-deactivated gambling machines, the General Assembly passed a bill that would tax and regulate the machines rather than make them illegal. Opponents of the bill contend Virginia has already allowed too much gambling and should not sanction slot machine lookalikes, which are harder to regulate because they are spread across hundreds of smaller businesses and not limited to a few large casinos and equestrian facilities.

By They would ban them within 35 miles of any state-licensed casino or gambling establishment associated with horse racing.

If no deal is reached, games of skill will remain illegal in Virginia under a ban that former Gov. Ralph Northam first approved in 2020. There are still several ways the machines could become legal this year, but the lack of forward movement has convinced many Capitol watchers that the prospects for skill games are becoming bleak.

“This has had a long and interesting life,” Krizek said of the skill gambling bill at the Virginia Advisory Committee on Problem Gambling Treatment and Support meeting last month. “It’s on life support now.”

If legalizing skill games is not included in the budget deal, the General Assembly would have to expand the focus of the special session to include it as standalone legislation. The move could complicate efforts to hold a quick special session in which lawmakers pass a consensus budget, announce they have avoided a government shutdown and then go home.

The pro-skill game coalition that championed the bill has been largely silent since April 17, when the state Senate soundly rejected Youngkin’s much stricter rewrite of the skill game legalization bill, giving him the original one , a more industry-friendly version sent back to the legislature was preferred. A spokeswoman for the Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition, one of the main groups pushing for the legalization of skill games, did not respond to requests for comment on the state of play.

Youngkin could theoretically still allow the original bill to take effect, but that too seems unlikely since the governor has said he sees numerous problems with the loose regulatory structure that lawmakers insisted on keeping. The governor has not yet acted on the bills sent back to him last month, but the pending skill gaming bill could be among the next vetoes he is expected to announce late next week after the special session ends.

Supporters of the bill to legalize skill games said it contains safeguards designed to curb gambling addiction and discourage people under 21 from playing. But critics argued that the bill’s measures would be ineffective because they fell short of similar rules that apply to other types of newly legalized gambling, such as casinos and sports betting.

At last month’s Problem Gambling Advisory Council meeting, Carolyn Hawley, a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University and one of the state’s leading experts on gambling addiction, said the skill gaming bill passed by the General Assembly had set back efforts to curb gambling by the bar has been lowered What is expected when new types of gambling are legalized?

“When we look at all the other industries, with everything that’s been accomplished in the state in terms of responsible gaming and consumer protection, all of that has been wiped out,” Hawley said.

On a recent episode of his podcast, Sen. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin, who has fought to keep skill games legal both in the General Assembly and by helping the industry fight the ban in court, indicated that he too not sure what the end result will be The result will now be that skill games are “on budget”.

“It’s all up in the air,” Stanley said.

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