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Parents Should Be “Skill” Games’ Fiercest Opponents
by Dr. Babur Lateef — he is the chair of the Prince William County School Board and a current Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor.
For six years, I’ve served as Chairman of the Prince William County School Board, Virginia’s second-largest school division. School boards like mine have taken on the immense responsibility of developing policies and programs to mitigate kids’ various addictions. I fear another addiction looms on the horizon with Virginia’s “skill games” legislation.
Despite what various lobbyists and industry insiders will tell you, these games are basically slot machines. They’re loud and bright to draw players in. They’ve received minor tweaks to make their claim they involved an element of “skill” to the game, but the fact remains they are currently illegal. Yet, they could be coming to gas stations and grocery stores near you, depending on the outcome of legislation before the General Assembly right now.
I’m a medical doctor and a dad; I don’t need a 15-year double-blind study to tell you that these things are bad for kids and young adults. The Virginia Council on Problem Gambling says the “ubiquitous nature of skill games” poses a heightened risk to children as “research indicates that early exposure and participation in gambling can be a risk factor for developing a gambling problem later in life.” Is anyone surprised?
For the moment, skill games are illegal in Virginia. The governor vetoed legislation last year that would have spelled out stricter, clearer guidance allowing them to operate legally again. In response to the failed legislation, at least one operator developed a supposed loophole related to how a player provides the tender necessary to play the games in an effort to skirt existing law. Now in 2025, there are new efforts in the General Assembly to legalize skill games, although what the exact parameters of those efforts might look like are unclear. Regardless, these efforts to legalize skill games continue to fall short of providing appropriate safeguards and meaningful restrictions.
Last year, the proponents of these machines even scoffed at providing restrictions on school proximity, but, in December, our Prince William County School Board took a firm stance against the legalization of these skill gaming machines on behalf of our students.
When kids overdose in schools, school boards painstakingly drafted notification systems that comply with federal privacy laws while keeping parents informed. When kids were addicted to TikTok and mobile sports betting, we created bell-to-bell phone bans to help them focus in the classroom.
It’s been disappointing watching Democrats split hairs so dutifully about the differences between skilled games and slot machines. This is despite a game operator last year telling the Virginia Gaming Commission that “skill” games versus traditional slot machines is, “a distinction without difference,” meaning the game always wins in the end. In 2020, all of Virginia’s Senate Democrats voted against legalizing these machines. The landscape looks different now, though it eludes me exactly why. We’re mitigating addictions left and right in our schools and communities, and we don’t need another.
Legalizing these machines and allowing them to pop up in our neighborhoods will have severe consequences for our students. I’ve been on the campaign trail for more than a year and I’ve never once heard a Virginian ask for these machines to be legalized. Virginia has had a multi-billion-dollar surplus in recent years. This is a clear-cut case of outside interests trying to make a buck off Virginia’s families and kids with predatory gambling.
I applaud Democrats like Senator Adam Ebbin and Delegate Paul Krizek for their leadership in speaking against these machines and focusing on what Virginians really care about. As Lieutenant Governor, I can promise I would do the same.
This is the Virginia Scope daily newsletter covering Virginia politics from top to bottom. Please consider becoming the ultimate political insider by supporting non-partisan, independent news and becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter today.
PWC is not exactly known for its positives for kids. "For six years, I’ve served as Chairman of the Prince William County School Board, Virginia’s second-largest school division."
You are there to EDUCATE, not police kids, not indoctrinate them, but to teach them reading, writing and math. Your mission creep is why we are getting garbage out of kids today. "School boards like mine have taken on the immense responsibility of developing policies and programs to mitigate kids’ various addictions."
You don't base your medical decisions on science? We do NOT need more of this. At all. We've seen that well enough to know the screw ups when you think you know better than facts. "I’m a medical doctor and a dad; I don’t need a 15-year double-blind study to tell you that these things are bad for kids and young adults. "
PWC is not exactly known for its positives for kids. "For six years, I’ve served as Chairman of the Prince William County School Board, Virginia’s second-largest school division."
You are there to EDUCATE, not police kids, not indoctrinate them, but to teach them reading, writing and math. Your mission creep is why we are getting garbage out of kids today. "School boards like mine have taken on the immense responsibility of developing policies and programs to mitigate kids’ various addictions."
You don't base your medical decisions on science? We do NOT need more of this. At all. We've seen that well enough to know the screw ups when you think you know better than facts. "I’m a medical doctor and a dad; I don’t need a 15-year double-blind study to tell you that these things are bad for kids and young adults. "