Six business owners recently sued the Commonwealth of Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam, Attorney General Mark Herring and the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority in Norfolk Circuit Court, in an attempt to ban skill games beyond July 1, the day the ban is supposed to take effect.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said losing the games, which are offered in convenience stores, restaurants and bars, would “substantially affect, damage and hinder” their clients’ businesses, “potentially to the point of insolvency and closure.” The complaint said the law banning the games is “discriminatory” since similar games, like historic horseracing terminals, still would be legal.
The attorneys have asked a judge to stop the law’s effective date as Attorney General Mark Herring looks into the issue as a possible violation of the Virginia Human Rights Act. Business owners say the games keep customers at the business longer and spend money on other products. Many lawmakers criticized the game manufacturers for entering and proliferating within the state without permission and for affecting lottery sales.
The General Assembly voted to ban the games last year, but with Covid-19 just starting to spread, Governor Ralph Northam proposed taxing and regulating the machines for one year to help struggling businesses and set up a Covid-19 fund. According to a release from Queen of Virginia Skill, the largest gaming provider, the machines contributed $74 million to Virginia’s Covid-19 Relief Fund in the last year.
The lawsuit alleges that the ban would deprive businesses of their constitutional rights, while favoring other forms of “actual gambling” over electronic games that rely on skill rather than chance. The suit stated, “The General Assembly and governor cannot pick and choose winners and losers in such a manner, especially when free speech and due process rights are at issue.”
Attorney Mike Joynes and state Delegate Steve Heretick represent the business owners. In a letter to the state attorney general, Joynes said, “Think about it. Look at the condition that Covid left a lot of the restaurants and different places. It was the skill games that kept most of these places afloat. They are just now getting back on their feet and as soon as they are, the governor wants to take them away from them.”
Joynes noted a significant number of business owners who offer the games belong to ethnic and religious minorities. He said most of the casino companies operating or coming into the state are not predominantly owned by minorities. Therefore, the ban on skill games violates the Virginia Human Rights Act in that “it unfairly and prejudicially affects the rights, titles and interests that the plaintiffs and other similarly affected business owners have in the conduct of their businesses. Casinos still have their games. The traditional horseracing companies still have all their games. It’s wrong. We believe it’s a human rights violation.”
Joynes said Herring’s office now has 180 days to issue an opinion. Meanwhile he hopes a judge will allow gaming to continue until then. A hearing has been scheduled for June 30.
Meanwhile, one group is calling the ban “racial discrimination.” The Roanoke-based Asian American Business Owners Association filed an 18-page complaint with the state attorney general charging the General Assembly with bias, particularly Senate Minority Leader Tommy Norment, who called the legislative effort to keep the games legal the “Ali Baba bill.” The company also cites Senate Finance Chair Janet Howell, who called the games “sleazy.”
The complaint cites the exception draw for “family entertainment centers” as discriminating against single people who don’t participate as a family.
“In recent years, gaming has been embraced by the commonwealth when it is enjoyed by the privileged in fancy casinos or by children in ‘family entertainment centers,’” the complaint states. “But that very same activity is not acceptable when offered by Asian American owned convenience stores or enjoyed by minority or marginalized populations.”
