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ABC-Gaming Subcommittee

Tuesday, February 10, 2026·15m·▶ Watch / Listen

The ABC-Gaming Subcommittee advanced HB271, which would establish the Virginia Gaming Commission as an independent agency to oversee all forms of legalized gaming in Virginia, referring the substitute bill to the Committee on Appropriations on a 9-0 vote. All testimony was in support, including from the Spanberger administration, which conditioned any future gaming expansion on first standing up a centralized oversight entity.

Key Actions

·HB271 – Virginia Gaming Commission established; penaltiesPassed

Notable Quotes

“We don't have that authoritative body that would study these matters, make recommendations so that we're evaluating gaming as a unified whole, as an ecosystem for the whole state, and not just a series of one offs, which is really what we're doing now. It's one off events.”

Paul E. Krezak (bill sponsor) — Krizek was explaining why Virginia needs the Virginia Gaming Commission, arguing that the legislature currently addresses gaming issues individually rather than as an integrated system.

+ 4 more quotes

Votes

Move the substitute to HB271Passed
Report the substitute to HB 271 and report and refer to the committee on AppropriationsPassed
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TranscriptPreview
All right, good people, we're ready to start. If you guys want to have a conversation, you gotta leave the room. Can we take the roll, please? Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, we have one bill before us, the ABC Gaming Subcommittee, and that is HB2 7 1. Chairman Krezak. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. So House Bill 271 seeks to establish the Virginia Gaming Commission as an independent agency to oversee and regulate really all forms of legalized gaming in Virginia. And gaming we don't even know that might be coming down the pike. It will. The only thing that will be out of it at this point would be the Virginia Lottery and they will continue operate the state lottery and their I lottery. It also will change the Virginia Racing Commission from a state agency to a policy commission underneath the Virginia Gaming Commission. But they will still the regulatory aspects with respect to live and simulcast horse racing with paramutual wagering, that will still be under the Virginia Racing Commission. The bill comes at the recommendation of the joint subcommittee to study the feasibility of establishing the Virginia Gaming Commission, in which I served as the…
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