HB 161

Virginia Lottery; casinos; internet gaming authorized; penalties. Authorizes internet gaming in the Commonwealth to be regulated by the Virginia Lottery Board. The bill requires a casino gaming operator that intends to conduct internet gaming to submit a separate notice of intent to the Director of the Virginia Lottery for each internet gaming platform that it intends to offer, up to three, accompanied by a $2 million platform fee that is to be deposited into the Internet Gaming Platform Fee Holding Fund for the purpose of funding start-up costs and other costs associated with the implementation and creation of a gaming commission. The bill permits the Board to issue an internet gaming operator license to a casino gaming operator that submits an application on forms approved by the Board, meets certain qualifications, and pays an initial licensing fee of $500,000. The tax rate is set at 15 percent of an internet gaming operator's adjusted gross internet gaming revenue with five percent allocated to the Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund, six percent allocated to the Internet Gaming Hold Harmless Fund until January 1, 2030, and the remaining 89 percent before January 1, 2030, and 95 percent after January 1, 2030, allocated to the general fund.