Virginia Senate rejects House gambling bill, conference committee to resolve differences

The Virginia Senate on Tuesday voted 40-0 to reject a House-passed version of a bill that would permit casinos in several Virginia cities as the two chambers continue to disagree on tax rates. A 10-member Virginia General Assembly conference committee, that includes one Southwest Virginia lawmaker, is expected to begin work soon to resolve differences in the two casino bills.

Each chamber's version of the bill would permit local governments in Richmond, Danville, Norfolk, Bristol and Portsmouth to approve casino gambling and sports betting if the community approves so via referendum. Both bills would have the casinos regulated by the Virginia Lottery Board.

The House, however, is trying to establish a lower tax rate than the Senate. Senate Bill 36 originally matched the House version but, late in the approval process, it was amended to propose taxing casinos at rates of 27% on the first $150 million in net revenues, 31% on the second $150 million and 40% on revenues above $300 million. House Bill 4 proposes tax rates of 15%, 20% and 28%, with a two-tiered system based on investments in those casinos.

The House also seeks to have a lower cost for a casino license – $5 million compared with the Senate's $15 million.

Two weeks ago, the Senate passed its version of the bill, Senate Bill 36, and sent it to the House. Last week, the House passed a substitute version of SB 36 that conformed with the House version, House Bill 4. On Tuesday, the Senate rejected the substitute version, 40-0, instead seeking to maintain the higher tax rate.

HB 4 passed the House two weeks. The Senate confirmed the House version to the Senate version last week and advanced it out of the the General Laws and Technology Committee. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee advanced the legislation, 13-2.

Although both chambers seek to pass this bipartisan bill, these differences likely will need to be settled through a conference committee. Sen. Todd Pillion, R-Abingdon, is Southwest Virginia region’s only lawmaker named Wednesday to a conference committee for House Bill 4 and Senate Bill 36, as reported by the Bristol Herald Courier.

With the exception of the city of Richmond, the bill would direct that each referendum be held during the November 2020 general election. Pillion is one of five Senate conferees and a co-patron of Senate Bill 36. Other Senate conferees include chief bill patron Sen. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth; Sen. Tommy Norment, R-James City; Sen. Jeremy McPike, D-Dale City; and Sen. Jennifer McClellan, D-Petersburg.

House conferees include chief patron Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach; Del. Barry Austin, R-Buchanan; Del. Betsy Carr, D-Richmond; Del. Jay Jones, D-Norfolk and Del. Paul Krizen, D-Fairfax.

Danville is the only city eligible for a casino not represented on the committee. The primary differences between the bills include the proposed tax rates on casino gaming revenue and the cost of a casino license.

The bills would also require the Virginia Racing Commission to authorize an additional 600 historical horse racing terminals each time a local referendum held by an eligible host city is approved, with the total limited to 2,500 new machines statewide.

The legislative session wraps up March 7.