Virginia governor cool on bringing back skill games, wants new commission to oversee all gambling

Tuesday, January 14, 2025 9:13 PM
Photo:  By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - Glenn Youngkin, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=124428307
  • Brendan Ponton and Noah Kim, WKTR-TV

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin signaled his hesitancy this week to allow skilled gaming machines within the commonwealth again, despite recent efforts to loosen restrictions.

“I am not interested in progressing any of those kinds of bills,” Youngkin told News 3 in an interview Tuesday morning.

Instead, Youngkin wants to create a consolidated commission to oversee all gaming activities in the state. He mentioned this goal during his State of the Commonwealth address Monday.

“Let’s work together on other issues where we can find common ground. One of those issues is gaming,” said Youngkin. “We must take action to enable the creation of the Virginia Gaming Commission to consolidate the regulatory oversight of our vast gaming ecosystem under one entity.”