Democratic Virginia State Sen. Scott Surovell filed a bill Tuesday that would allow a resort-style casino in Tysons, reigniting debate in the community.
Labor unions support the Tysons casino proposal, believing it will help bring jobs to the area, but members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors have mixed views on the casino.
Surovell, the state senate majority leader, and others bet a resort-style casino and entertainment district in Tysons would bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. He says Virginians gamble at MGM National Harbor, generating about $300 million of tax revenue for Prince George's County, Maryland, annually.
"I wanna see that $300 million come back to Virginia and pay for schools in Fairfax County and Virginia," Surovell said.
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The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hasn’t taken a formal position on the matter.
Fairfax County leaders have been searching for ways to bring in new tax revenue to offset all the money disappearing as commercial real estate consolidates.
In Richmond, lobbyists show new renderings of a massive entertainment district real estate developer Comstock designed. The district would include the casino, multiple hotels, a convention center, performing arts center, in addition to other commercial and residential units.
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Comstock CEO Christopher Clemente said if his company were to build this district, it would bring Tysons the nightlife it currently lacks.
"By bringing a casino operation to a development like that, we can do those other things that are benefits to the community, the county, and the state for that matter, without requiring any public financing of any kind," Clemente said.
Clemente said Tysons currently generates about $250 million every year in tax revenue and estimates that the entertainment district would double that.
But some neighbors don't want a casino, regardless of the revenue it could bring.
Linda Walsh with the McLean Citizens Association — a group opposing a casino — said they've been rallying county-wide opposition.
"They flocked to us to say 'no casino,' so especially I think the younger people with children are very concerned about adding the gambling element to our community," Walsh said.
Over the last year, while opposition to the casino has been visible at town halls, so has support. The project has the approval of local unions who hope to benefit from the jobs it would bring.
However, last month, a group of 109 former national security and intelligence professionals sent a letter to elected leaders opposing a Tysons casino, saying it "presents an unacceptable and needless risk to national security" because of its proposed proximity to Langley and nearly 20,000 intelligence and defense employees who live nearby.
Sally Horn, the former senior director for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, spent nearly four decades working in national security and says those workers with top level security clearance would become targets should they get into gambling trouble.
"I know from experience, from having been in this world, that Russia, China, other nations who would do us ill, are looking for these people," Horn said.
Surovell said he doesn't buy that argument.
"I think these are just people that don't want something in their backyard," he said.
A casino in Tysons would take a lot of steps before becoming a reality. If it's approved by the legislature and signed by the governor, it would move to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, who would need to approve it and put it on a ballot as a referendum question for voters to ultimately decide.
