Virginia Casino Bill Dead For 2014Lawmakers Will Take It Up Next Year, Though |
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A plan to put a commercial casino in Virginia reportedly will have to wait until 2015, despite a positive advancement on the idea early this year.
Senate Bill No. 19, which will be shelved, called for a casino in the Hampton Roads area. The state doesn’t have any Las Vegas-style casinos of any kind.
According to The Washington Post, Sen. L. Louise Lucas, sponsor of the bill, asked her colleagues this week “to put her own measure off for the year while she gathers support in the more-conservative House of Delegates. Lucas said she’s found a House member willing to carry the bill next year.” She had pushed casino legislation before.
Despite the progress on the plan, which came in the form of a favorable vote this week by the Senate’s General Laws and Technology Committee, a casino coming to Virginia appears to be a long shot. As one lawmaker told The Post, “Forty-nine states will have it before we get it."
“Maybe 48,” he conceded.
Just 11 states in the country don’t have a single casino. Others include Utah and Hawaii.
Gamblers in Virginia, of course, have other options in the region, as there has been a massive expansion of gambling on the eastern coast of the United States.
Virginia does have gaming in the form of lotteries, charitable contests and parimutuels.
The state has been tough on illegal gambling, for example busting a poker game this past August. In March of last year, the Virginia Supreme Court balked at ruling on whether poker is a game of skill or one of chance.
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