Fairfax Casino Opposition Aligns to Oppose Northern Virginia Legislative Effort
Posted on: October 3, 2025, 10:21h.
Last updated on: October 3, 2025, 10:28h.
- Opponents to a casino in Northern Virginia are uniting
- Legislative efforts to permit a casino in Fairfax County are expected to resume in January
The odds of a casino coming to Northern Virginia remain long, but two groups that oppose ongoing efforts to consider slot machines and table games in the affluent region are nonetheless uniting to increase their resistance.
The No Fairfax Casino Coalition and Tysons Stakeholders Alliance are partnering to raise their collective voice in opposing a Las Vegas-like resort in Northern Virginia. Both groups were formed solely to oppose gambling in the Tysons area.
Tysons is an unincorporated community in Fairfax County that is home to many Fortune 500 businesses. Along with McLean, the area is home to the headquarters of Capital One, Hilton Worldwide, Mars, Gannett, Freddie Mac, and Booz Allen Hamilton.
A casino in Tysons would undermine the success and reputation of our thriving community,” the Tyson Stakeholders Alliance said.
The alliance claims casinos “have been proven to draw potential customers away from local businesses,” lead to lower property valuations for homeowners, and bring an “influx of crime.”
Casino Effort
In 2020, Virginia lawmakers passed legislation to allow certain cities to consider a casino development, should a local ballot referendum with voter support for gambling be realized. Casinos are open in, or coming to, Portsmouth, Danville, Bristol, Norfolk, and Petersburg.
All of those cities are in the southern half of the state. Some commonwealth lawmakers think a casino should be allowed in Northern Virginia to keep gaming money and associated taxes from flowing into Maryland, namely, to MGM National Harbor. The opposition to the push led by state Sen. David Marsden (D-Fairfax) has been stern, with no community or civic organization yet supporting the idea of a casino.
Marsden, however, is pressing on. He says Fairfax needs tax solutions to keep its budget afloat, as property assessments for the region’s many large office buildings dwindled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You either compete or you die,” Marsden said in May on American University’s “The Politics Hour.” “You can’t just take the stubborn approach, ‘Well, we don’t do that here. That’s not who we are.’ You have to play the hand of cards that you’re dealt.”
Marsden added that the Northern Virginia casino issue will be “heavily debated” in the General Assembly’s upcoming session, which begins in January.
Costly Region
Opponents say the thousands of jobs a casino in Northern Virginia might bring wouldn’t pay workers enough to live there. Casino salaries nationwide average about $52K per year, said Sally Horn of the Greater Tysons Citizen Association, another group opposed to gambling.
According to MIT’s living wage calculator, a single adult living in Fairfax County would need to earn about $65,650 a year to meet basic needs, and a family of four with both parents working would need over $149,000,” Horn said.
According to the 2020 US Census, Fairfax County had the fifth-highest median household income at almost $127K. Neighboring Loudoun County was the highest at a median household income of more than $147K. Arlington County was seventh at $122,600.
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