Almost two years after Virginia lawmakers voted to ban so-called skill games, two of the colorful, slots-like machines were installed at a Richmond convenience store a block from the state Capitol, unmissable to legislators and political aides popping over for coffee or energy drinks.
Similar machines in at least two other Richmond-area convenience stores recently displayed a message saying some of their revenue goes toward Virginia’s COVID-19 relief fund. It did once. But that claim hasn’t been true since July 1, 2021, when the state stopped regulating and taxing the machines as they were formally declared illegal.
The industry is fighting that ban in court, battling the state to a lengthy standstill that since December 2021 has allowed the machines to continue operating in a sort of legal limbo, with no oversight from regulators and no public revenue from gaming taxes.
