ROANOKE, Va. – While Gov. Glenn Youngkin continues to take action on a number of bills, one bill sitting on his desk would impact the fate of skill games in the Commonwealth.
If you’ve been to a restaurant or convenience store in Virginia, you may have seen slot-machine-looking kiosks called “skill games.” For years the machines have been an issue battled out in the General Assembly, in court, and now in the Virginia Supreme Court.
On Oct. 13, a panel of the Virginia Supreme Court issued a notice that these terminals are now banned.
Since the ban, restaurant and convenience store owners who rely on the games as extra income. A group of owners joined together to create the Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition.
The group’s president, Rich Kelly, spoke with a number of supporters at a rally on Tuesday in Richmond.
“Right now without skill games, the restaurants, the convenience stores, the groups...they’re suffering. If we can’t get this bill signed, many of those businesses are going to go away,” Kelly said.
10 News has previously talked with business owners in favor of the games.
Supporters are encouraging Youngkin to stick to what he said he’d do when he was running for office.
In a radio appearance posted to Youngkin’s campaign YouTube page in August of 2021, the then-candidate called himself a “big supporter of the skill games.”
“I’m supportive of the skill games. I just think all businesses should be allowed to do business,” Youngkin said on Hampton Roads area station WNIS. “Skill games actually do enable so many small businesses to not only grow their business but also simply to survive.”
The legalization bill passed the General Assembly with bipartisan support earlier this month, but the skill game industry is scrutinizing whether the governor will sign it, veto it, or recommend changes.
A 25% tax would apply to the machines’ revenues. The bill also includes provisions meant to prevent anyone under 21 from playing the games and the amount of machines would be restricted but critics say those measures fall well short of similar rules applied to other forms of gambling like casinos and sports betting apps.
In a statement sent to 10 News on Thursday, a Youngkin spokesperson had this to say: