Virginia Online Casinos – An Inside Look At The Old Dominion’s Casino Gambling Industry
A few years ago, the future of casinos in Virginia looked bleak, as the state was one of the few remaining holdouts for any form of brick-and-mortar gambling. But with the passage of VA gambling expansion laws in 2020, new casinos in Virginia are becoming a reality. But Virginia online casinos aren’t available locally, and even when construction of the four new VA casinos is completed, real-money online casino games won’t be part of the deal domestically.
But online VA casinos are part of the deal internationally thanks to legal offshore gambling sites. These legit online casinos have been accepting VA gamblers for years, and online gambling in the state has long been a safe, lawful pastime. In fact, we’d go so far to say that online betting in VA has dominated the entertainment market in the Old Dominion! To learn how to take part without breaking any VA gambling laws, our brief guide to Virginia online gambling has all the answers.
★ Top Rated Online Casino For Virginia Players In 2024
Bovada – Most Trusted Online Casino Accepting VA Players
If you’re looking for the best casinos in Virginia, they haven’t actually opened yet. Of course, you don’t have to wait for any new VA casinos to officially launch to get access to the most engaging and profitable gambling in the state, as you can already log in to Bovada and play all the real-money gambling games you want.
Bovada LV has been taking VA players since 2011, and the site boasts over 250 of the best electronic online VA slots and table games. There’s even a full live casino with real dealers and croupiers!
But Bovada isn’t just a legit VA casino site. It also offers full online Virginia sports betting, online poker games, and an international VA horse racing betting portal. New members who sign up with Bovada today can take advantage of the site’s $3000 online casino welcome bonus and boost their bankroll even more when depositing with Bitcoin/crypto!
- Established 2011
- Headquartered in Costa Rica
- 250+ electronic casino games
- 30+ live online casino games
- Bovada Bitcoin + crypto banking
- Bovada MatchPay + Vouchers
- 1 acct. for Casino, Sports, Poker, Horses
- Accepts all state residents (18+)
Is Online Gambling Legal In Virginia?
Yes! While online casino gambling in VA isn’t a part of the expanded Virginia casino laws, there’s nothing in those laws – or any VA laws – that bars online casino gambling in the state, either.
That is, there are no state gambling laws that make it a crime for any state resident to sign up and play real-money casino games with offshore betting sites. As long as these venues are headquartered outside VA and US borders, they’re perfectly legitimate gaming options.
Legal Virginia Gambling Age
The legal age to gamble in Virginia depends on the market in which you’re participating. The minimum age required to play the Virginia Lottery is 18+, as is the minimum age to play in Virginia bingo halls. However, the minimum age to bet on sports in VA is 21+, and the new casinos in the state will all require players to be 21 and older, too.
That said, most of the offshore gambling sites we recommend here only require their members to be 18 and up to sign up and bet real cash, regardless of the betting market in question.
Are There Legal VA Online Casinos That Are Safe To Play At?
Yes, of course! That said, it’s important that you do your due diligence, as not all legal online casinos are actually safe online casinos. It’s crucial to make sure that the venue you choose for all your online gambling in Virginia is tried and true, respected in the industry, and abides by all online gambling best practices.
Every online VA casino we recommend here ticks all the following boxes, so you can feel safe, secure, and confident in joining any (or all!) of them:
Virginia Mobile Casinos
It should come as no surprise, but just about all legal online gambling in Virginia is mobile online gambling. While legit online casinos have been around since the 1990s, once mobile access and fast cellular Internet became the norm, online casino traffic really switched over to the small screen. Today, more than 80% of all VA casino gambling is done via iPhones, iPads, and Android devices.
That being said, there are actually no Virginia iPhone casino apps or Android casino apps to download, as every legit betting site featured here makes its entire menu available right through the web. As long as you have a relatively recent device and an up-to-date mobile web browser, you can access all the real-money casino games and live-dealer tables you want.
Best of all, unlike domestic sports betting apps, Virginia online casinos are not “geofenced.” If you’re familiar with local online sports betting, you’ve probably noticed that you can’t place wagers from outside state borders. For gamblers, this isn’t just inconvenient, it’s a literal loser!
Well, with the legal gambling sites listed here, there are no GPS restrictions at all, so you can play your favorite games from anywhere in VA and the rest of America.
Online Casino Games In Virginia
The Old Dominion is known as much for its beautiful Virginia slot canyons as for its bountiful Virginia slot machines. And – because the latter are available 24/7 online – they’re a lot more accessible.
Of course, so are Virginia online blackjack games, online roulette games, online video poker games, online bingo games, and so on. In fact, any online casino game you can think of is available at the best-rated VA casino sites we recommend, and the payouts are every bit as good as – and probably even better! – than the brick-and-mortar VA casinos will offer once their doors open in 2023.
In all, these are the Virginia online casino games you’ll find at all the top online VA casinos:
- Online Slots Machines (3-Reel, 5-Reel, 6-Reel)
- Online 3D Slots + Online iSlots (Interactive Slots)
- Online Progressive Jackpot Slots
- Online Blackjack (1-Deck, 2-Deck, 6-Deck, 8-Deck)
- Online Roulette (American + European)
- Online Baccarat + Online Super 6 (Mini-Bac)
- Online Video Poker Games
- Online Keno + Online Craps
- Online Bingo + Online Lotteries
- Online Raffles + Online Scratch-Offs
- Online Live Casino Games
Pro-Tip: Most of the sites featured here offer free online casino games, though not all do. At participating sites, if you’d like to “try before you buy,” simply select the “practice” or “demo” mode for any game and play a few rounds before risking actual cash.
Virginia Online Live-Dealer Casino Games
While electronic online Virginia slot machines are clearly the headliners at any legitimate online casino site (with blackjack, roulette, etc. not far behind), sometimes players really want the human touch.
But even once the new casinos open in VA, they might be too far away from you to make that human touch a reasonable proposition. (You can consult your Virginia casino map right now to see if that’s likely to be the case.)
However, you don’t actually need to gamble in person to gamble in person! That’s because all the top online venues now offer live casino games with real dealers and croupiers!
Utilizing live-streaming video and audio technologies, live casino table games are now available at your literal fingertips, and you can even chat with the house and other players at your table. Then, when it’s time for a break, you can sit back and relax in spectator mode.
- Live Dealer Blackjack
- Live Dealer Roulette
- Live Dealer Baccarat
- Live Dealer Super 6
Note: Live online casino games are paid games only. That is, you can’t play live online casino games for free at the VA casino sites we recommend. Additionally, live casino games do not typically contribute to online casino bonus playthrough requirements.
Brick-And-Mortar Casinos In Virginia
There are four casinos coming to Virginia, but as of 2022, none is open yet. The four Virginia casino resorts are currently under construction, and they’ll be coming to the cities of Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, and Portsmouth.
While the city of Richmond was also granted a casino license as part of the state’s recent gambling expansion measures, local voters were required to approve any new casino initiative.
Interestingly, the voters in Richmond declined to have a casino built within their city limits, leaving the official number of new VA casinos at four for the foreseeable future.
Despite there being seven federally recognized Indian Tribes and 11 state-recognized Indian tribes in VA, there are no Virginia Indian casinos of any kind. Even if you’re expecting the bare minimum – such as a limited Class II Indian casino in Virginia – you won’t find one. In fact, there aren’t even any tribal-run VA bingo halls!
While it’s possible that Indian casinos in VA could become a thing in the future, they’re several years away at the very least.
That said, it should be noted that two Indian tribes – the Seminole Tribe of Florida and the Pamunkey Indian Tribe of Virginia – are the owners/operators of two of the state's new commercial casinos. These are the Hard Rock Casino in Bristol and the HeadWaters Casino in Norfolk, respectively.
Gambling Resources For Virginia Residents
While we’ve covered the thrust of existing VA gambling laws and casino laws, you may want to learn more before deciding whether or not an offshore casino site is right for you.
We’ve put together the following links to help you get started, beginning with the relevant sections of the current Code of Virginia:
- VA Code 18.2 Article 1 – “Gambling”
- VA Code 58.1 Subtitle IV – Covers Virginia Lottery, Virginia sports betting, and Virginia casino gambling revenue/tax laws
- VA Code 59.1 Ch. 29 – “Horse Racing and Pari-Mutuel Wagering”
- SB 36 – “Lottery Board; regulation of casino gaming”; Legalized five domestic casinos to be located in the cities of Portsmouth, Richmond, Norfolk, Danville, and Bristol. Local casino construction contingent on city approval. All approved except Richmond. Four casinos being built in VA as of 2022.
- SB 384/HB 896 – Legalized Virginia sports betting and online sports betting. First online VA sportsbooks launched Jan. 21, 2021.
Gambling is a fun and entertaining pastime, but gambling addiction certainly isn’t. If you or someone you know is having trouble gambling responsibly, help is available at no cost through the Virginia chapter of the National Council on Problem Gambling.