Overview

The Virginia Lottery is charged with the licensing and regulatory oversight of all casino operations. Prior to operating a casino or working with or in a casino, companies and individuals meeting certain definitions must be issued one of the following licenses: facility operator license, supplier permit or a service permit. Please read this information in its entirety.

Facility Operator’s License

Prior to operating a casino gaming establishment, a facility operator’s license must be issued by the Lottery Board. Only a preferred casino gaming operator may apply for a facility operator’s license. Click here for a sample facility operator license application.

Supplier Permits

A supplier means any person that sells or leases, or contracts to sell or lease, any casino gaming equipment, devices, or supplies, or provides any management services, to a license. There are four categories of suppliers (click on title below for further definition):

The Gaming Licensing and Investigation’s Division will determine whether applicants should apply as a contractor, manufacturer or a slot machine management system provider and will determine which individuals working for these companies meet the definition of a principal/key manager.

Prior to contacting the Gaming and Licensing Investigation Division, the Supplier MUST have a business relationship with a casino.

Please contact the casinos at:

Portsmouth Gaming Holdings, LLC d/b/a Rivers Casino Portsmouth
Tammy Powell (tpowell@rushst.com)

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe
www.pamunkeyfuture.com

Hard Rock Bristol, LLC
(vendorregistration@hardrock.com)

Caesar’s Virginia, LLC
Kunal Patel - (kpatel8@caesars.com)

Suppliers must have a completed Certification of Business Relationship. This Certification must be completed by the casino. Once this certification has been obtained, and in order to determine the proper filing, prospective applicants should submit a Letter of Determination to the Gaming Licensing and Investigations Division at LetterofDetermination@valottery.com that contains the following information:

• A copy of the Certification of a Business Relationship that identifies the Virginia casino to which the applicant will provide goods and services.
• Contract information confirming that the applicant has entered into an agreement with the Virginia casino. This information should include at a minimum, the dollar values of the goods and services and the time period in which these goods and services are to be provided.
• A comprehensive description of the goods and services to be provided to include installation and maintenance information, if applicable, and whether employees will be working on site in Virginia casinos at any point in time when the goods and services are being provided.
• An organizational chart of the applicant to include the company employees, principal entities and Institutional investors.
• A listing of all employees that meet the definition of Principal and/or Key Manager.
• Point of Contact for the applicant to whom the Virginia Lottery will correspond in reference to licensing matters and will be responsible for serving as the account representative that will coordinate the licensing process.

Once the required information is received, the Licensing and Investigations Division will reach out to the point of contract to begin the licensing process.

Remember that all suppliers are required to have a contract with a casino PRIOR to contacting the Gaming Licensing and Investigation’s Division.

Sample Applications and User Guides

Click here for the Certification of Business Relationship.

Click here for the Account Representative User Guide.

Click here for sample application for Contractor.

Click here for the Contractor User Guide.

Click here for sample application for Manufacturer and Slot Machine Management System Provider.

Click here for the Manufacturer/Slot Machine Management System Provider User Guide.

Click here for sample application for Principal/Key Manager.

Click here for the Principal/Key Manager User Guide.

Click here for sample application for Principal Entity.

Click here for Principal Entity User Guide.

Click here for Institutional Investor Form.

Click here for Institutional Investor User Guide.

Service Permits

There are four categories of service permits (click on title below for further definition).

Persons applying for any of these service permits must have a job offer or contract with a Virginia casino and work through the casino to obtain credentials to the online licensing portal. The casino, not the Virginia Lottery, is responsible for making hiring decisions and determining vendors with whom they chose to do business with. The casino representative will be required to provide Virginia Lottery with their due diligence completed relative to vetting gaming and non-gaming employees. The casino will be responsible for determining the type of service permit application that individuals and vendors are to submit.

In order to start the permit process, contact the casinos at:

Portsmouth Gaming Holdings, LLC d/b/a Rivers Casino Portsmouth
Tammy Powell (tpowell@rushst.com)

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe
www.pamunkeyfuture.com

Hard Rock Bristol, LLC
(vendorregistration@hardrock.com)

Caesar’s Virginia, LLC
Kunal Patel - (kpatel8@caesars.com)

Sample Applications and User Guides

Click here for sample application for Gaming employee.

Click here for sample application for Non-gaming employee.

Click here for sample application for Vendor Major and Vendor Minor.

Click here for the Casino Vendor Admin User Guide.

Click here for the Vendor Applicant User Manual.

Definitions

Contractor:

Means a person or individual, other than an employee of a facility operator, who contracts with a facility operator or other person to:

1. Manage or operate a facility;
2. Provide security for a facility;
3. Perform service, maintenance, or repairs of a slot machine, mechanical casino game, table game device, central operating system, associated equipment, or software;
4. Own or control a person described in 1-3 above;
5. Provide junket enterprise services, or
6. Provide any other service that is essential to operation of a casino gaming facility.

Principal:

Means an individual who, solely or together with the individual’s immediate family members, (i) owns or controls, directly or indirectly, five percent or more of the pecuniary interest in any entity that is a licenses, or (ii) have the power to vote or cause to vote of five percent or more of the voting securities or other ownership interests of such entity, and any person who manages a gaming operation on behalf of a licensee

Key Manager:

1. An individual who owns, controls, or manages a licensee or otherwise exercises control over the gaming functions of the licensee;
2. An employee of a permit holder who manages or operates the facility, supervises the security of the facility, or is otherwise considered by the department to be a key manager, and,
3. Is not a gaming employee

Manufacturer:

1. A person that is engaged in the business of designing, building, constructing, assembling, manufacturing, or distributing table games or table game equipment;
2. A person that produces a product related to table games that is intended for sale, lease, or other assignment to a licensee or permit holder; and
3. A person that contracts with a licensee or permit holder for the sale, lease or other assignment of a product described in 1 above.

Slot machine management system provider:

An entity that operates or manages the department’s central monitor and control system or a facility operator’s slot machine management system.

Gaming employee is an individual who:

Is or is seeking to be employed by an applicant for or holder of an operation license, and whose duties relate or will relate to the operation of a facility, and who performs or supervises or will perform or supervise the performance of :

1. Operating, servicing, or maintaining a casino gaming machine, table games, or associated equipment;
2. Accounting, maintaining, or auditing a facility’s financial records;
3. Counting or processing casino gaming machine revenue or table game revenue;
4. Conducting security or surveillance in or around a facility; or
5. Operating or maintaining a facility’s information systems;
6. Is employed by a permit holder and whose duties directly relate to the repair, service or distribution of a casino gaming machine, table game, or associated equipment, or is otherwise required to be present on the gaming floor or in a restricted area of the facility;
7. Is employed by a permit holder as a junket representative;
8. Is otherwise required by the department to hold a service permit as a gaming employee.

Non-Gaming Employee is an individual who is:

1. Employed or is seeking to be employed by an applicant for or holder of an operation license and whose duties are or will be other than the duties of the gaming employees; or,
2. Otherwise required by the department to hold a service permit as a nongaming employee.

Vendor:

Means a person who provides goods and services to a casino gaming facility applicant or licensee and who is not required to be licensed as a manufacturer or contractor under the gaming law, or department policy and directive, and includes:

1. Except for Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control, providers of alcoholic beverages;
2. Providers of food and nonalcoholic beverages;
3. Refuse handlers;
4. Vending machine providers and service personnel;
5. Janitorial and maintenance companies;
6. Tenant businesses or franchises located within facilities if such goods and services are not gaming related;
7. Providers of transportation services if such services are not gaming related;
8. Persons involved in the construction of a facility;
9. Lessors of real property;
10. Payroll services and other employer related services;
11. Employee recruiting services; and
12. Person whose services the board reviews and determines must be registered or certified under the regulations.

License Fees:

All fees are due at the time of application submission. Investigations will not begin until all fees have been received in the Lottery’s account. Required fees are as follows:

Facility Operator’s License:

$15,000,000 due at the time of the issuance of a license.

Supplier Permits:

Non-Refundable Application Fee - $5,000.

Any employees of suppliers identified as Principals/Key Managers are required to submit:

• Non-refundable background fee of $50,000. Applicant is responsible for additional costs if the background investigation exceeds $50,000.
• Fingerprint Fee - $35.72

Service Permits:

Non-Refundable Application Fee - $500.

All individuals meeting the definitions of gaming and non-gaming employees are required to remit fingerprint fees of $35.72

All fees are to be remitted as follows:

Wire Payment To:

Virginia Lottery Account Number: 435029087446

Name of the Account: Gaming License Fees

Transit Routing Number: 026009593

ACH Instructions:

Virginia Lottery Account Number: 435029087446

Name of the Account: Gaming License Fees

Transit Routing Number: 051000017

Investigations will not begin until the required fees are remitted.

Gaming Laws

• Casino Gaming

Gaming Regulations

Casino Gaming:

• Proposed Permanent Regulations (7/21/2021)
• Emergency Regulations
• Casino Regulations: Approximate timeline to adoption
• FAQs
• Key Dates (Host City: Richmond, VA)
• Emergency Regulations Process
• Preliminary Review Guidelines
• Point of Contact
• Casino Business Entity Disclosure Form
• Joint Acknowledgment

Facility Operators

• HR Bristol, LLC
  Approved 4/23/2022
• Rivers Portsmouth Gaming, LLC
  Approved 11/16/2022
• Caesars Virginia, LLC
  Approved 5/15/2023

Supplier Permits

• IGT – Manufacturer Permit/Slot Machine Management System Supplier Permit
• SG Gaming, Inc d/b/a Light and Wonder – Manufacturer Permit/Slot Machine System Supplier Permit
• AGS, LLC – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Ainsworth Game Technology Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Everi Games Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Incredible Technologies Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Interblock USA LLC – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Aristocrat Gaming Technologies, Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Konami Gaming Inc - Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Genesis Gaming Solutions, Inc –Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Gaming Partners International USA – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• NRT Technologies, Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• TCS John Huxley America, Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• The US Playing Card Company – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• SEGA Sammy Creation, Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• SEGA Sammy Creation USA, Inc. – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Zitro USA, Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• First American Bankcard, Inc – Manufacturer Supplier Permit
• Novomatic America Sales, LLC – Manufacturer Supplier Permit

Vendor Service Permits

• Click here for approvals

Testing/Certification Labs Approved

• Gaming Laboratories International, LLC
• Bulletproof Solutions, INC.
• BMM Testlabs
• Cobalt
• eCorga
• NCC Group
• AccessIT Group, Inc

Testing and certification labs interested in being approved by the Virginia Lottery to be utilized by casino operators should email a letter of request to:

Gina Smith

Deputy Executive Director of Gaming Compliance

gsmith@valottery.com

The letter should contain information on the company submitting the request to include experience in certifying and/or testing casino systems as well as any other experience the company believes is relevant to assist the Lottery in its approval process.

Settlement Agreements

• Docket No. 2023-03-01
• Docket No. 2023-06-01

For a copy of the Transportation Policy for Gaming Equipment, Click here.

For Frequently Asked Questions, Click here.

Notify the VA Lottery of Shipments via DocuSign.

Press Releases

1. Virginia Lottery releases August casino wagering activity report (9/15/2023)
2. Virginia Lottery releases July casino wagering activity report (8/15/2023)
3. Virginia Lottery releases June casino wagering activity report (7/14/2023)
4. Virginia Lottery releases May casino wagering activity report (6/15/2023)
5. Virginia Lottery releases April casino wagering activity report (5/15/2023)
6. Virginia Lottery Board approves casino facility operator’s license for Caesar’s Virginia, LLC, to be located in Danville (4/26/2023)
7. Virginia Lottery releases March casino wagering activity report (4/14/2023)
8. Virginia Lottery releases February casino wagering activity report (3/15/2023)
9. Virginia Lottery releases January casino wagering activity report (2/15/2023)
10. Virginia Lottery releases December casino wagering activity report (1/13/2023)
11. Virginia Lottery releases November casino wagering activity report (12/15/2022)
12. Virginia Lottery Board approves casino facility operator’s license for Rivers Portsmouth Gaming, LLC d/b/a Rivers Casino Portsmouth (11/16/2022)
13. Virginia Lottery releases October casino wagering activity report (11/15/2022)
14. Virginia Lottery releases September casino wagering activity report (10/14/2022)
15. Virginia Lottery releases August casino wagering activity report (9/15/2022)
16. Virginia Lottery releases July casino wagering activity report (8/15/2022)
17. Virginia Lottery Board issues first Facility Operator’s License for casino (4/27/2022
18. Virginia Lottery Board approves proposed permanent casino gaming regulations (7/21/2021)
19. Initial casino gaming regulations for Virginia approved by Lottery Board (2/3/2021)