A proposal to allow Northern Virginia voters to weigh in on whether to build a casino in Fairfax County has advanced to the state鈥檚 House of Delegates.
And even though the latest plan doesn鈥檛 specify Tysons as the location for the project, some community members there are still skeptical.
鈥淚t鈥檚 already congested enough,鈥� Kristin Harrig said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 enough to do here. We don鈥檛 need to gamble here. You can go across the river to the National Harbor.鈥�
Previous attempts to advance the casino project focused on the Tysons area. The new legislation, though, would allow the casino to be built anywhere in Fairfax County.
Virginia鈥檚 state Senate approved the plan Friday, 23-14, though several lawmakers representing Northern Virginia opposed it.
Some elected officials in the suburb have spoken out against the project, and with a 5-4 vote, the Board of Supervisors opted to keep it out of its legislative priorities.
鈥淢aybe somewhere out in Loudoun County or something like that, but not in Fairfax County,鈥� resident Jamaal French told 小萝莉影视. 鈥淏ut in Northern Virginia, definitely.鈥�
Kevin Ejtemai, who owns a business in the Tysons Corner Center mall, said he has 鈥渢hree small children, and we don鈥檛 want this area to become inundated with gamblers and drunk people walking around the casino, around town.鈥�
But Senate Majority Leader Scott Surovell said many similar concerns are overblown. There isn鈥檛 any organized opposition to the project outside of McLean, he said, adding that he lives 鈥渃loser to the MGM Casino than most of these people in McLean complaining, and it hasn鈥檛 changed my quality of life.鈥�
鈥淎 lot of people, I think, are sort of saying the sky is going to fall, but I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 consistent with reality,鈥� Surovell said.
Dipen Patel said he鈥檇 support a casino project in Tysons, and 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see a reason why Fairfax should not have a casino.鈥�
鈥淎s much money is flowing from Virginia to Maryland, we鈥檙e better off doing one here,鈥� Patel said, 鈥渂ecause we see a lot of population coming to MGM for gambling purposes.鈥�
Surovell said that last year, the House of Delegates didn鈥檛 really speak about the proposal: 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 confident that this year, the House is interested in figuring out a way to proceed on this, and I think we will get something on the governor鈥檚 desk.鈥�
But for French, 鈥渁s a resident of Fairfax County, it鈥檚 already hard enough to get around out here. I鈥檓 not for it, not right here, but somewhere close that I can still get to it.鈥�
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