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RICHMOND, Va. — The Virginia House of Delegates, the lower body of the state legislature, is to vote Monday on a controversial bill that would ban gambling entities in the state from using the advertising slogan “Virginia is for bettors” to promote their businesses.
Earlier this month, the 40-member Virginia State Senate, the upper body of the state legislature, passed the bill by a unanimous 40 to 0 vote.
To become law, the bill must also be approved by a majority of the 100-member House of Delegates and then be signed by Virginia’s governor.
The bill’s main sponsor is Virginia State Senator Thomas Norment, a Republican who became angry when he recently heard a gambling commercial on his car radio that declared “Virginia is for bettors.”
Virginia has legal sports betting and casino gambling.
The state’s tourism bureau has used the advertising slogan “Virginia is for lovers” since 1969, and the betting slogan is a play on words of that.
“Frankly, it annoyed me,” Norment told a State Senate gambling sub-committee last month.
“We’ve spent a lifetime trying to market ‘Virginia is for lovers.’ I just felt it was trespassing on it.”
According to the wording of the bill, it “prohibits sports betting and casino gaming operators and their affiliates from using the name of Virginia or the Commonwealth in an advertisement in association with their products or services (and) a violation is subject to a civil penalty of up to $50,000.”
In an interview with Gambling 911 on Friday, Norment’s press secretary, Jeff Ryer, said the bill is scheduled to be voted on by the House of Delegates on Monday.
“A House sub-committee previously approved the bill by a unanimous 22 to 0 vote, so now the bill goes to the full House for a vote,” Ryer said.
“If the House approves it, then it will be up to Governor Glenn Youngkin to sign it into law,” he said.
Ryer said he has “no idea” whether the governor plans to sign the bill.
“If the governor vetoes the bill, though, there is a process in place for the state legislature to override the veto,” Ryer said.
The effort to pass the bill may be akin to boarding a sinking ship, however.
According to some observers, if the bill does become law, it will likely be challenged in court on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech.
By Tom Somach
Gambling 911 Chief Correspondent
