More interest in finding legislative support for a Fairfax casino is emerging
Virginia Senator David Marsden says he will reintroduce legislation authorizing Fairfax County to consider a ballot referendum asking local residents to vote on approval of a single retail casino resort. A similar bill introduced by Marsden this year was pulled from its assigned committee. He’s getting support, with proponents of the Fairfax casino forming a new political action committee (PAC), “Building a Remarkable Virginia.”
The PAC has already raised $277,000, with most coming from Comstock Companies, a real estate developer in Northern Virginia. It is interested in bidding on becoming the county’s preferred gaming developer should a casino be built.
In its latest campaign finance disclosure report to the Virginia State Board of Elections, the PAC shows it has $17,000 cash on hand after making various donations to state legislators. Marsden received a $24,000 contribution in October.
Marsden and other lawmakers aiming to give the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorization to put the casino question on the ballot contend that Northern Virginia must stop subsidizing K-12 public education in Maryland, where many residents travel to visit casinos.
Marsden says he isn’t a big fan of gambling but also doesn’t want Virginia’s most affluent region to resume gambling at Maryland casinos. “I don’t like the lottery. I don’t like any of it. But we have to be practical, not naive,” Marsden told the Associated Press this week.
Delegate Wren Williams has stated that he’ll propose a similar bill to Marsden’s to increase the odds of Fairfax being specified as an acceptable casino location.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors must still vote on whether they’ll support the new casino. Officials in county towns along the Silver Line, where Marsden and Williams prefer to build the casino, have expressed their opposition to the gaming push.
