NORFOLK, Va. — Virginia can resume enforcement of its ban on skill games after the Supreme Court of Virginia on Friday overruled an injunction that has prevented the state from enforcing it since late 2021.
In a ruling released Friday, judges ruled the ban should remain in effect while a lawsuit on the games plays out, which reverses a lower court's decision.
In 2021, a state law banning the machines went into effect. A business owner then sued the state to try and keep the machines, and the machines were temporarily allowed to remain.
The Supreme Court did not issue a final ruling on the lawsuit, but instead reinstated the state's law banning them.
News 3 reached out to the Attorney General Jason Miyares to ask if and how this will be enforced.
"We are very pleased with the Supreme Court’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the skill games law. The Commonwealth of Virginia has regulated gambling for centuries, and the skill games law is an ordinary exercise of the General Assembly’s authority to protect the public from dangerous gambling devices. The law is now in effect, and Commonwealth’s Attorneys are free to enforce it," stated Miyares' Spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita.
By lifting the injunction, the Supreme Court’s ruling puts the state ban back in effect, but it’s unclear whether it will be immediately enforced given the pending status of the lawsuit.
News 3's Leondra Head got reaction from Tommy Posilero, the owner of Mona Lisa’s Restaurant in Norfolk, who says the games bring in big bucks.
"Without these machines, it’s going to be a struggle," Posilero said. "I’ve been in business over 25 years. These machines are helping mom and pops, which I am, stick around."
Jessica Ludvigsen plays skilled games several times a week.
"It’s paid a bill or two of mine," Ludvigsen said.
Now she'll no longer be able to play with the ban in effect.
"You can play just to pass time and for game therapy and block out the world and your problems," Ludvigsen said.
On the other side of the coin is Skip Blanchard, president of the Virginia Charitable Gaming Commission, who says prior to this latest ruling, it wasn't a level playing field for charitable organizations who were under a different set of rules.
"There are rules and regulations, paperwork you have to file and fees you have to pay, whereas this other group didn’t have any of that," Blanchard said. "It was all tax free money for the past two-and-a-half years."
"Right now, I think the reason we’re not paying tax is because they’re trying to figure out if they are going to let us keep the games," Posilero said. "All we’re doing is waiting for them to put a tax on it, and then we’ll move on from there and pay the taxes."
