Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring recently asked the state Supreme Court to overturn a Greenville Circuit Court judge’s December 6 order that prohibits the state from enforcing its ban on slot-like electronic skill games.
As it stands, enforcement of the ban on the slot-like gambling machines, which continue to proliferate at convenience stores, truck stops and restaurants statewide, now is on hold until May.
The filing stated, “Far from preserving the previous state of affairs, the circuit court’s temporary injunction has upended the status quo and resulted in the proliferation of entirely unregulated gambling devices across the Commonwealth. It is now legal in Virginia for a child of any age to go to a corner store and gamble on so-called video skills games. The circuit court’s injunction has resulted in immediate and complete deregulation from the bench.”
Herring’s petition states the circuit court did not consider all the aspects of stopping the state from enforcing its electronic skill game ban. The filing states the circuit court erroneously concluded the gambling devices “constituted protected speech” under the First Amendment.
Previously, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control regulated and taxed the betting machines. That oversight no longer is in place. The lawsuit challenging the ban was filed before the ban was to take effect July 1, by former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler, who owns a truck stop and gas station company. He and his company are represented by attorney and Republican state Senator Bill Stanley, former state Attorney General Anthony F. “Tony” Troy and Jason Hicks.
Sadler’s lawsuit claims the state’s ban is unconstitutional and impacts a major revenue source from his stores, even though Virginia allows legal gambling. He stated his stores have relied on the revenue from skill games for 20 years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Virginia legislature voted to approve the so-called skill games ban in 2020, but Governor Ralph Northam asked them to delay it so the revenue the machines generated could help fund Covid-19 relief. At the same time, lawmakers approved a measure allowing up to five casinos and mobile sports betting in the state.
Attorneys for Sadler noted the company that owns Colonial Downs Group/Rosie’s Gaming Emporium filed an amicus brief in support of Herring’s petition for review. Stanley said, “We suspected this all along. The attempt to ban skill games was never about good government policy. It was about money and greed and the big casinos were behind it.” Troy said Herring was “helping big, out-of-state gaming interests crush local small business owners like Hermie Sadler.”
In response, a spokesperson for Herring said the attorney general’s office “is simply doing its job by defending the law passed by the General Assembly.”
The injunction will remain in effect until Sadler’s lawsuit goes to trial on May 18. The Virginia Supreme Court could rule on the issue before that.
Meanwhile, the charitable nonprofit Cheers sued the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Cheers’ attorney state Senator Chap Peterson, said VDACS dropped regulations allowing Texas Hold ’Em-style fundraising poker tournaments before the laws took effect. Petersen said like skill games, Texas Hold ‘Em charitable tournaments are technically legal but have no regulation. He said, “Texas Hold ‘Em, if you’re a qualified charity, is decriminalized. The agency vacated all the rules for regulating the games, but they can’t recriminalize it. That would take a legislative step.”
Stanley said, “These court rulings demonstrate a need for the legislature to fix the problems that it alone created.”
