Proposals to legalize and regulate thousands of slots-like skill games in Virginia convenience stores, restaurants and truck stops easily cleared both chambers of the General Assembly this week.

There are major differences left to be resolved in the two bills that passed the state Senate and the House of Delegates ahead of Tuesday’s crossover deadline, the legislative session’s halfway point when the two chambers have to finish work on their own bills.

However, the solid, bipartisan vote tallies indicate the legislation is on track to win final passage before lawmakers leave Richmond next month. The vote was 32-8 in the Senate and 65-34 in the House.

The House version of the bill has tougher regulations on the machines that would presumably limit their profitability. It includes a higher tax rate and a local approval requirement that would give cities and counties the ability to block skill games in their communities.

The Senate plan, which the skill game industry prefers due to its less strict treatment, doesn’t require local approval and would allow the industry to restart the machines on July 1 without waiting for a permanent regulatory structure to be put in place.

“Today’s overwhelmingly bipartisan vote reaffirms the General Assembly’s commitment to supporting these small businesses, and we hope that Governor Youngkin follows their lead,” restaurant owner Rich Kelly said in a statement on behalf of the pro-skill game Virginia Merchants and Amusements Coalition. “It is imperative that we move this legislation forward to ensure struggling small businesses can access the additional revenue generated by skill games without delay.”

Though the votes weren’t exactly close, Virginia lawmakers have sharply differing views on the impact of skill games. 

During the Senate’s debate on the proposal Tuesday, Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, the lead sponsor of the Senate skill game bill, said it was all about helping “the most vulnerable small businesses in our commonwealth,” many of them run by first-generation immigrants.

Sen. Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, said she flipped from a no on skill games to a yes after learning from some of those business owners about how revenue from the machines kept them afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I have never supported it in the past,” Boysko said.

But Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, a skill game opponent, suggested the heavy emphasis on helping small businesses (the Senate bill is titled the Virginia Small Business Economic Development Act) was glossing over the actual policy choice legislators are making.