News
Majority of Virginians favor legalized gambling
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2019
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Farrah Stone, Ph.D.
Poll Director
(804) 305-3447
stonefn@vcu.edu
With the scheduled release today, 11/25/19, of the JLARC study on gambling in Virginia, the results of a statewide poll released in late October by the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University offer some additional perspective on how Virginians feel about gambling.
Respondents were asked about their views on legalized gambling. A majority of Virginians (53%) said that society would be helped because the government would be able to regulate and tax it, while 38% felt that society would be hurt by legalizing additional gambling in the Commonwealth because gambling breeds crime and would create more compulsive gamblers. Younger Virginians were more likely to see legalization positively with 65% of those ages 35-44 and 62% of those 18-34 saying society would be helped. This was compared with 40% of those ages 45-64 and 51% of those 65 and older saying society would be hurt. There were regional differences with South Central being the most supportive with 65% saying society would be helped and the West being the least, with half (50%) saying society would be hurt.
The poll, conducted by landline and cellphone from Sept. 23 to Oct. 4, is based on a random sample of 800 adults in Virginia with an overall margin of error of 4.08 percentage points. The full news release from October 23 can be found here:
For the full poll results and methodology, visit https://oppo.vcu.edu/policy-poll/.
About the Wilder School and the Center for Public Policy
The L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, named for the nation’s first African-American elected governor, is a top-50 nationally ranked public affairs school. Located blocks from the state Capitol in Richmond, Virginia, the school enrolls about 1,000 undergraduates and 400 graduate students in eight academic programs. The Wilder School’s 10,000-plus alumni work across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Drawing on the wide-ranging expertise of Wilder School faculty, the Center for Public Policy's programs provide diverse public-facing services including leadership development and training, economic and policy impact analysis, survey insights and program evaluation to clients in state and local governments, nonprofit organizations, businesses and the general public, across Virginia and beyond. For more, please visit https://wilder.vcu.edu/center-for-public-policy/.