Groups Unite to Oppose Casino Interests in Fairfax, Virginia

Virginia state Sen. Scott Surovell is leading the effort to bring a casino to Tysons Corner in Virginia, and is encountering stiff opposition. (Photo: Steve Helber / AP)

Since 2023, efforts to bring a casino to Fairfax, Virginia, have failed due to significant local opposition. Now, two major groups that have stood against the plan have joined forces to ensure that doesn’t change in the years to come.

The Tysons Stakeholders Alliance and the No Fairfax Casino Coalition recently offered a webinar for residents of Fairfax County to inform locals about the likely attempt to bring a casino to Tysons Corner again in 2026.

Casino Legislation Creeps Closer to Passing Each Year

Bills attempting to authorize a Fairfax County casino have progressed further in each of the last three years. In 2023, a bill was withdrawn before receiving any votes; in 2024, legislation introduced by State Senator Dave Marsden (D-Burke) died in the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee. 

But in 2025, a similar bill proposed by State Senator Scott Surovell (D-Mount Vernon) made it through the Senate before failing in committee in the Virginia House of Delegates. And the expectation is that Sen. Surovell will follow up on that momentum next year.

“Senator Surovell has vowed to introduce casino legislation again in 2026,” Paula Martino, president of the Tysons Stakeholders Alliance, said during the webinar, according to the Fairfax County Times. “You might ask who is pushing for this? Well, it certainly isn’t tahe voters of Fairfax County.”

Opposition to a Tysons Corner casino comes in many forms. For one, there’s the question of whether such a small, rural area can handle the kind of traffic – both vehicle and in sheer terms of people – that developers are suggesting would come to a Fairfax County casino. Traffic congestion is already a major issue in Northern Virginia, and an estimated 25,000 added visitors to Tysons would only exasperate the problem.

National Security Raised as Potential Issue for Fairfax Casino

Others question whether a casino would even bring the kind of economic development being promised to the region.

“Casino revenue is flat and even declining across almost every major casino in the country,” Federal Consulting Alliance COE Andy Pavord said during the webinar. “This is not a growth industry.”

There’s also the unique risks some see with a casino so close to the nation’s capital – not to mention its national intelligence agencies. 

“Nowhere else in this region…can you find such a large concentration of intelligence, defense, and other federal offices, and contractors whose employees hold security clearances at the highest security level,” Sally K. Horn, former senior director in the office of the Secretary of Defense, said in a letter addressing the potential for a Tysons Corner casino in January 2025. More than 100 former national security professionals signed on to that message.

Sen. Surovell has dismissed these concerns, saying they are “NIMBY [Not in My Backyard] stuff dressed up in different clothing.”

“Right now, Tysons is a place where people work. There are very few people who live there,” Surovell said during a subcommittee meeting earlier this year. “This project is exactly the kind of project that was intended to be on that line when it was built. You don’t like living near density, don’t live near the Metro.”

The arguments on both sides will likely be heard for months and years to come. Both the Tysons Stakeholder Alliance and the No Fairfax Casino Coalition have been invited to speak at an Oct. 20 Joint Subcommittee meeting regarding the establishment of the Virginia Gaming Commission, where the issue of casinos will be discussed.