CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) – If you went to your neighborhood gas station or convenience store Monday, you may have had trouble buying a lottery ticket. To find out why, all you had to do was read the sign on the door.
One sign at a gas station in Chester read, “No lottery sales, Monday, April 15 All Day, to protest Gov. Youngkin’s proposed skill game ban.”
“We are hopefully hoping that we will get the message across to our governor,” said Jarnail Singh, who owns several gas stations in Virginia, including a Shell station in Chester.
The sign and lottery sales protest at Singh’s store, as well as over 500 locations across Virginia, was part of a protest organized by the Virginia Merchants and Amusement Coalition (VA MAC) to bring attention to proposed amendments made by Governor Glenn Youngkin to a bill meant to legalize skill games in Virginia.
Lottery boycott notices at local gas station (Courtesy Joel Caldwell) 
Lottery boycott notices at local gas station (Courtesy Joel Caldwell) 
Lottery boycott notices at local gas station (Courtesy Joel Caldwell) 
Lottery boycott notices at local gas station (Courtesy Joel Caldwell) 
Lottery boycott notices at local gas station (Courtesy Joel Caldwell)
“To the customers that came in that had to turn back, we would like to apologize that they had to go back, but this is something that is very important to us,” Singh told 8News.
Youngkin’s proposed changes to the bill passed by the General Assembly would increase the tax rate on profits from skill games from 25% to 35% and prohibit the machines within 35 miles of a casino and within 2500 feet of a school or place of worship.
This map from Senator Bill Stanley (R-Franklin) shows where the machines wouldn’t be allowed. The pink circles are within 35 miles of a casino, while the red squares are within 2500 feet of a school, or place of worship.
“I did have to lay people off because I can’t afford employees right now. These machines really helped us run the business on a daily basis,” Singh explained.
According to lottery data, stores in Virginia sell over $12.5 million worth of lottery tickets on average every day, leading to more than $2.3 million in proceeds for the state. Meanwhile, store owners participating in the protest could also be violating their contract with the Virginia Lottery.
“It is a risk we have to take,” said Singh. “It’s the only way we can get across, get our voices across.”
When 8News asked the Virginia Lottery about potential contract violations a spokesperson said the following.
Virginia businesses that sell Lottery tickets, meaning they partner with the Lottery to help raise funds for K-12 public education, have a contract with the Lottery in which they agree to sell Lottery games and redeem winning tickets. The Lottery works with each individual retailer as to what works best for them, and we make it a practice not to tell retailers how to run their business.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Governor Glenn Youngkin reacted to the protest giving 8News the following statement.
“The Governor supports small business owners having access to skill games and his proposed legislative amendments, stemming from discussions with a bipartisan group of members and dozens of outside stakeholders, would establish an important regulatory framework, enhance consumer and public safety protections, and grant localities and Virginians a voice.”
