Virginia lawmaker: Some skill games legal because they don’t actually require skill

Skill games, which remain banned in Virginia after Governor Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill to legalise them earlier this year, are still cropping up at Virginia convenience stores. Proponents claim they are legal because they involve no skill at all.

Virginia Delegate Steve Heretick has issued written opinions used by skill-game companies and convenience store owners. Heretick claims some of the skill games can be operated in Virginia. Why? Because, he says, there’s zero skill involved, according to a report in the Virginia Mercury.

In an interview with the newspaper on 11 July, Heretick said his interpretation only applies to so-called “pre-reveal” games. In those games, players have the option of looking ahead to see whether upcoming spins will produce a winning combination of symbols or not.

Because players can study the machine to see what’s coming next and choose not to play, Heretick argues, there’s no element of chance. Therefore, he says, the games are not a form of gambling.

With no way for the player to change an outcome that’s already fixed and knowable, Heretick said, the machines are a form of visual entertainment. He says the skill games in question involve even less skill than a traditional arcade game like pinball. Therefore, he contends, they’re not subject to the skill-game ban.

“If you know what’s going to happen and you do it anyway, I can’t say that I would be awfully entertained by that,” Heretick told the newspaper. “But at the same time, there seem to be an awful lot of people who are.”

Skill games banned and Heretick “encouraging” law breaking

Tad Berman, a Richmond horse racing enthusiast who closely follows gambling issues in Virginia, blasted the lawmaker’s opinion.

“Mr Heretick’s contempt for the law is disturbing enough, but through his actions it is also glaringly obvious that he is encouraging others to break the law,” Berman said in an email to the office of attorney-general Jason Miyares. “Mr Heretick needs to explain himself and the businesses that have resumed operating under the pretence of his letter should be ordered to immediately stop operations or be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Delegate Paul Krizek (D-Fairfax) specialises in gambling policy in the general assembly. He said the emphasis on pre-reveal games shows companies are “contributing to lawlessness in the commonwealth” per the Virginia Mercury.

“Everybody knows what gambling is,” he said. “You put money in and you have the chance of winning money. It doesn’t matter how it happens.”