In Virginia, sports gambling is legal, as long as the teams involved are not colleges within the commonwealth.
A bill at the General Assembly, Senate Bill 124, aims to change that and allow adults to wager on such teams as Virginia Tech football or University of Virginia basketball.
Some legislators worry such a measure would leave college athletes susceptible to taking bribes and manipulating the outcome of games. But Sen. Schuyler VanVaklenburg, D-Henrico, the bill’s sponsor, said it is safer to legalize gambling and regulate it, because people are already wagering on Virginia’s teams from other states and through illegal means.
