Posted on: January 8, 2025, 11:41h.
Last updated on: January 8, 2025, 11:41h.
Legislation to allow a casino in Northern Virginia in Tysons has again been introduced in the Richmond capital. However, this year the measure has a new, more powerful primary sponsor.
On Tuesday, Virginia Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax) filed Senate Bill 982. The measure seeks to qualify a specific area within Fairfax County as a permissible location for a commercial casino. Currently, casinos with slot machines, live dealer table games, and sports betting can only operate in Portsmouth, Bristol, Norfolk, Danville, and Petersburg.
Surovell takes the lead for a casino in Northern Virginia, specifically, Tysons, a census-designated place between the business hubs of McClean and Vienna, from state Sen. David Marsden (D-Fairfax), who unsuccessfully championed the push last year.
SB982 seeks to initiate a countywide referendum asking voters if they support a casino within a one-quarter mile of the Spring Hill Metro station. Surovell’s legislation has been directed to the Senate Committee on General Laws and Technology for initial consideration.
Comstock Has Big Dreams
Marsden began the quest to bring a casino to Northern Virginia in partnership with regional real estate developer Comstock Companies. Marsden and Comstock CEO Chris Clemente believe Fairfax is approaching a property tax crisis and that a casino, hotel, and convention center would help ease rising rates on homeowners.
In conjunction with Surovell resuming the NoVA casino legislative fight, Comstock unveiled its vision for what a casino might look like in the region. Comstock suggests building a massive mixed-use development spanning as much as eight million square feet on 35 acres.
The total investment, Comstock says, could approach $6 billion. The casino would occupy just 5% of the facility, with larger features being a 600-room five-star luxury hotel, a 6K-seat performing arts theatre, and the county’s first major convention center.
The development blueprint also includes residential apartments, retail shopping, restaurants and bars, outdoor public greenspace, and an immersive theater. Comstock says it would partner with a casino operator to run the hotel and gaming facility. Renderings of the casino component ooze Wynn Resorts’ signature curved hotel.
Odds Long
Surovell and Comstock’s eagerness is met with an abundance of opposition, including from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. Numerous homeowners associations, local municipality governments, and former federal employees have also expressed hostility to a casino.
MGM Resorts will presumably lobby against SB982 to protect its interests in neighboring Maryland where it operates MGM National Harbor just across the Potomac River.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay, a lifelong resident of the county, maintains that the local leaders are against a casino. The supervisors have dedicated a portion of the county’s website to the casino push.
Tysons is not declining, it is growing. The casino bill is a distraction that should never impact the most valuable real estate in the Commonwealth. It also creates uncertainty that could make attracting additional major employers more challenging,” the supervisors wrote.
“Fairfax County has an ambitious, community-support comprehensive plan for transit station areas around all Silver Line stations. A casino is not in those plans, and brazen attempts by developers and casino operators to buy necessary government approvals is a fool’s errand at best, and unethical at worst,” the statement concluded.
