CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Correction: This story has been updated to correct an error about the amount of tax proposed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin for skill game machines.
If you’re looking for a lottery ticket in Virginia today, you might be out of luck. That’s because hundreds of convenience stores are protesting a move by Gov. Glenn Youngkin to regulate skill games in the state.
Nik Patel said skill games are a big part of their business at Border Station in Chesapeake.
“We have big expenses like anybody else. Wages are going up. So those skill game machines would provide extra income to offset those costs,” he said.
The skill games bill sent to Youngkin’s desk re-legalizes the games, has a 25% tax and limits how many machines stores can have.
If Youngkin’s amendments to the bill stand, Patel said they will have to keep their machines locked away.
“We’re a small business here. We’re trying to survive here,” he said.
In a breakdown from Youngkin’s team, the governor is proposing a 35% gaming tax, which includes 5% on gross profits going to the Gaming Regulatory Fund and another 5% going to the College Partnership Laboratory School Fund.
He also wants to ban the games in stores 2,500 feet from schools and churches and within a 35-mile radius of casinos.
Border Station is 21 miles from Rivers Casino in Portsmouth.
“The skill games were here way before the casino,” said Patel. “With the 35-mile radius, more than 90 percent of locations would not have the skill games.”
In protest of the amendments, 500 stores across the state stopped selling Virginia lottery tickets Monday. Tuesday, members of the Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition will close their stores from 3:50 p.m. to 4:50 p.m.
Patel says Border Station is one of the top three lottery sales stores in the state, so he hopes this protest gets the governor’s attention.
“To show the governor what the economic impact can do by shutting down this lottery and how much money it would generate to the state,” said Patel.
In a statement, Youngkin’s team said the governor supports these businesses having access to skill games, but he says there needs to be a regulatory framework.
"The governor supports small business owners having access to skill games and his proposed legislative amendments, stemming from discussions with a bipartisan group of members and dozens of outside stakeholders, would establish an important regulatory framework, enhance consumer and public safety protections, and grant localities and Virginians a voice,” said Christian Martinez, Gov. Youngkin’s Press Secretary.
Lawmakers are set to return to Richmond on Wednesday when they will take up Youngkin's amendments. They could either accept the changes or send the bill back to the governor's desk.