A proposal to bring a casino and entertainment district to Northern Virginia passed the state’s senate Friday, even as some Fairfax County leaders and residents criticized the idea.
After a 23-14 vote, the measure will now head to the Virginia House of Delegates. A similar proposal passed the Senate last year, but didn’t make it out of a House subcommittee.
The move is the latest in the yearslong effort to bring a casino to Fairfax County. Lawmakers supporting the measure tout the potential for revenue, while residents and local leaders have worried about traffic and infrastructure needs.
Citing a 2019 report from Virginia’s Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said the project would generate “more revenue than all the other casinos we’ve authorized in Virginia combined.”
“That’s just not revenue for Northern Virginia, it’s revenue for the entire state,” Surovell said. “And this has been studied. It was looked at.”
The casino project would have to be at least 1.5 million square feet, and after a change this week, could be built anywhere in Fairfax County. The 2025 version of the legislation focused on Tysons.
While the casino has been a focal point of the conversation, Surovell said the plan could also include a concert venue, conference venue, hotel entertainment district and IMAX center for sporting events, “which is typically how projects of that size are designed and constructed.”
If approved in the House, the plan would be put in front of voters to consider.
Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors voted to leave a casino project out of their legislative priorities for the 2026 session, and several Northern Virginia state senators voted against the idea Friday.
Sen. Barbara Favola, for one, said the plan “is not fully cooked. It is not the right thing to do.”
“The Board of Supervisors has not even had a robust conversation on this,” Favola said. “They have decided that the planning effort, the effort that the locality would have to put forth regarding public infrastructure, safety questions, transportation and even national security issues, far outweigh the desirability of engaging in this conversation.”
Sen. Adam Ebbin, meanwhile, said the measure would be “a significant departure from past practice. The host locality, Fairfax County, is not asking for this authority.”
And, Sen. Jennifer Boysko added, “I go to the grocery store, I am stopped by my constituents. I have gone to the doctor. I have been stopped by my doctor when I was having a sick visit, who said, ‘Please do not bring a casino here. We don’t need it.’”
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