Virginia passes low tax casino bill

Lawmakers in Virginia dismissed a casino bill that would’ve set higher taxes and stuck with the House’s original version instead.

US.- The Legislature is soon to get Virginia its own casino legislation. However, two different versions were fighting its way through.

Ultimately, the original version, coming from the House, succeeded. The Virginia casino bill sets taxes lower than the one coming from the Senate, which failed to pass.

The House General Laws Committee voted 12-6 to report out Senate Bill 36.

“It’s got five locations, which are Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond,” Del. Barry Knight said on the bill. “These are economically depressed areas that could use the jobs in the state of Virginia.”

“I believe that this measure very much accomplishes the overall objective of bringing a lot of people to the table and looking at it from a global perspective. For that reason I support the measure,” Del. Joe Lindsey added.