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Alexandria City Councilman Canek Aguirre has asked state lawmakers to oppose a bill that would legalize skill games in Virginia, citing harmful impacts of the games on local business owners.

The bill, sponsored by State Sen. Aaron Rouse (D-22), calls for the regulation and taxation of skill game machines. It would cap the number of machines in Virginia at 35,000, impose an $800 gaming tax per machine and limit wagers from users to $5 per play. It was rereferred last week to the Finance and Appropriations Committee.


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A recent ruling in Hanover County dismissing a case against a skill games operator has put the anti-gambling effort into a tailspin in Alexandria.

General District Court Judge Hugh Campbell dismissed a case against a convenience store owner in Hanover County and found that new QVS2 (Queen of Virginia) machines by Pace-O-Matic that are unlocked when customers give clerks cash are not illegal gambling devices. The ruling has sent Alexandria’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter and his staff back to the drawing board.


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With enforcement at a trickle, the Alexandria Police Department has started seizing skill games machines.

That hasn’t stopped local businesses from carrying the illegal gambling devices. On a recent Saturday, two convenience stores and a restaurant in the city’s Arlandria neighborhood were packed with groups of mostly men playing the games.