NoVA Casino Without Referendum Possible With Budget Amendment: Report

ALEXANDRIA, VA — Backers of a proposed Tysons casino recently pitched the idea of linking it to the Potomac Yards arena project as both projects hit dead ends in the current session of the Virginia State Assembly.

A state senator who introduced a bill in the Virginia General Assembly that would pave the way for a casino to be built in Tysons told Patch earlier this month that a casino amendment to the state budget was also a possibility.

When asked at a March 2 town hall meeting if Senate Bill 675 would re-emerge as a budget amendment, Sen. Dave Marsden (D-Burke) said his bill was dead until 2025. However, he added, "Now, if the head of appropriations — Virginia has extraordinary flexibility on what it does with the budget. I'm not a budget [expert], but if she wants to do something in the budget, she can do it."

Marsden was speaking about Sen. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), who chairs the Senate Committee on Finance and Appropriations. That committee voted in February to hold over SB 675 until the 2025 session.

Comstock Holding Companies, the Reston-based developer seeking to put a casino somewhere on Metro’s Silver Line, recently pitched the idea of linking that effort to the Potomac Yards arena project eyed for Alexandria, according to the Washington Post. The Virginia General Assembly failed to approve either of the projects during its 2024 legislative session.

Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell (D-Alexandria), Comstock CEO Christopher Clemente, and Ben Tribbett, a political advisor who counts Surovell and Lucas among his clients, pitched the idea to link the projects to Monumental Sports & Entertainment, according to the Post’s reporting.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is expected to revive the Potomac Yards project, which would build a new home for the District’s NBA and NHL franchises, in a bill or amendment during the general assembly’s budget session that begins on April 17, according to the report. A spokesman for Youngkin told the Post that the governor did not support linking the two projects. The governor is the only one authorized to submit an amendment to the budget at this state.

Read the Washington Post’s full report.

If passed as originally written, Marsden's bill would have given the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors the authority a put a casino referendum on a future ballot. If a casino-arena or a casino-only amendment were added to the budget bill, the language would not require a referendum, which would be a departure from the previous process for awarding casino licenses.

“The idea was, ‘Let’s kill the arena in Potomac Yard and we can bring it back to life, paired with a casino, and the casino will help pay for the arena, and the arena will help disenfranchise the referendum voters,” JBG Smith Chief Executive told the Washington Post.

It's also unclear whether an amendment would include language appearing in Marsden's bill about the possible location of a casino.

While Marsden has touted Tysons as the perfect spot to build a casino and his bill reflects that, Comstock does not own land in Tysons. The developer does own considerable property around Reston Station.

The number of possible locations could even be larger, according to a Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce blog post. Written by the Comstock CEO's son, the post says the state should study the "additional revenue that would be generated from a casino along the Silver Line between Dulles and the District of Columbia line."

Related:

• Casino Near Arlington Metro Station Should Be Studied: Chamber Blog
• MGM Resorts Helped Pay Tysons Casino Opponents' Expenses
• Marsden 'Fought Like Crazy' For Tysons Casino Instead Of Reston Site
• Casino Money, Influence Show Value Of Campaign Finance Reform: Expert

Read all of Patch's reporting on Comstock Companies' plan to build a casino on Metro's Silver Line in Fairfax County at Silver Line Casino