Always Bet on Mauve: Casinopocalypse Bill Heads to Full Virginia House, Reston 'In Play'

Happy Friday News Dump, to all those who celebrate! Our BFFs at the Reston Association opted to send an update on the state of legislative maneuvering around Fairfax County's largely unsolicited, definitely irresponsible plastic fantastic casino proposal at 4:51pm this Friday afternoon, and it's a doozy! To be fair, that probably has more to do with the General Assembly's sneaky maneuvering on this bill, which stripped it of a bunch of qualifications that would have made it harder to be foisted on an unwilling part of the county more difficult to build and moved it out of committee to the full House of Delegates this afternoon, which plans to vote on it "quickly," according to our RA BFFs. Give us some good legalese blockquote:

The Appropriations committee removed several key provisions that would have made a casino more difficult to build or less profitable for developers:

• Magisterial District Majority: The requirement for the casino to be approved by a majority of voters in the specific district where it would be located was removed. Only a countywide referendum is now required.
• Mandatory Labor Protections: Requirements for prevailing wages and union hiring contracts were removed.
• Enhanced Financials: The $150 million licensing fee and the 40% tax rate (which would have significantly benefited the county) were scaled back to align with current state law.

What REMAINS in the Bill:

• Flexible Location: There is no longer a requirement for the casino to be in Tysons. It could realistically be placed anywhere in Fairfax County that meets the square footage requirement.
• Development Size: Any gaming establishment must be part of a larger mixed-use development of at least 1.5 million square feet.
• Public Safety Proffer: A mandatory requirement for the developer to fund or dedicate land for a public safety facility (e.g., police or fire station) remains.
• Expiration Date: The authority to hold a referendum expires on July 1, 2029.

As this bill closely resembles the language passed in the Virginia Senate earlier this month, it means that Reston is once again in play as a possible location.

Hard to guess where there might be 1.5 million square feet of largely unclaimed euclidian office footage just sitting around in Reston, but we might consider giving our friendly state legislator a call or electronic message. You can find the RA's sample letter here, and a list of lawmakers here. And because the world hates irony, you apparently can't yet gamble online on whether a bill bringing gambling to the county will pass, with this fancy prediction market "web site" suggesting we spend our hard-earned Who's Your Baby Momma ad revenue on some far more trivial wagers:

That $30 minimum wage could buy a couple of watered down drinks at the blackmauvejack table, the end.