Virginia’s Democratic legislature recently passed legislation that, if signed into law, will be a major boon for one of the state party’s largest financial supporters.
The gambling machine company Pace-O-Matic and its executives have given over $1.7 million to Virginia Democrats since 2023, including large sums during the recent 2025 elections, when Democrats retook control of the commonwealth’s legislature. Practically as soon as Democrats descended on Richmond to begin the 2026 legislative session, they filed legislation in both chambers that would legalize the “skill game” gambling machines manufactured by Pace-O-Matic across the commonwealth.
The architects and primary supporters of the legislation were among those who received the most money from Pace-O-Matic.
State Sen. Aaron Rouse (D) served as the patron of gambling expansion legislation in the commonwealth’s upper chamber. In Virginia’s legislature, patrons are responsible for introducing legislation and guiding it through the entire legislative process, including defending it on the floor if necessary.
Between 2023 and 2026, Rouse accepted over $140,000 in direct contributions from Pace-O-Matic and its executives, according to campaign finance records. During that period, Pace-O-Matic alone was Rouse’s tenth-largest overall donor. Further, Rouse received additional monetary support indirectly from Pace-O-Matic via the Our States Matter PAC, a federal PAC primarily funded by Pace-O-Matic and people associated with the company. The PAC gave his campaign accounts $195,000 in 2025.
Rouse, long financially supported by Pace-O-Matic, has also represented the firm’s interests as a state senator.
In 2024, for instance, he sponsored legislation to legalize Pace-O-Matic’s skill game machines, only to be defeated by disagreements with the then-Republican governor.
Defending the gambling expansion, Rouse has typically framed legalizing new gambling machines as an important source of income for small businesses.
So-called skill games, the category of gambling machines that Rouse’s most recent piece of legislation seeks to legalize, functionally play like slot machines. However, manufacturers of such games stress that their machines, which cost money to play and offer cash prizes, incorporate a degree of skill in determining outcomes, thereby distinguishing them from traditional gambling machines.
Despite being illegal, skill games are common in restaurants, truck stops, and convenience stores across Virginia.
Owners of these establishments, many of whom support Rouse’s bill, have stressed that the machines help them stay in business. Critics of Rouse’s legislation, meanwhile, oppose it on the grounds that it could contribute to rising levels of gambling addiction and will siphon money away from Virginians.
Rouse is far from the only high-profile Democrat involved in promoting the legalization, and he has counted Pace-O-Matic and its executives as major donors.
Del. Cliff Hayes (D-VA), the patron of the gambling expansion legislation in the commonwealth’s lower chamber, has received $37,000 in contributions from Pace-O-Matic since 2023. During this period, Pace-O-Matic was Hayes’s second-largest overall donor.
“My support for this legislation is grounded in public policy concerns that long predate any campaign contributions and are centered on transparency, enforcement, and fiscal responsibility for the Commonwealth,” Hayes told the Washington Examiner. “They are not based on any single contributor or entity.”
Hayes stressed in his statement to the Washington Examiner that taxes from skill games could raise significant revenue for the commonwealth and small business owners. He also claimed that the current ban has been ineffective, pointing to the large, unregulated, and untaxed illegal market that has flourished under it. According to Hayes, replacing this illegal market with a state-regulated, taxed market would be a step in the right direction.
Opponents of the legislation see things differently.
“When you violate the law, there’s consequences for violating the law; you should not be rewarded with, we’re going to forget about all the violations of law that you had, and we’re just going to go ahead and make this legal now,” said Ray Clemons, president of the Virginia Fraternal Order of Police.
Clemons also argued that skill game machines may contribute to public safety problems.
“They draw in a certain element because people know that there are people in there playing on these games and they have money to spend,” he told a local ABC affiliate.
Other Democrats involved with the legislation who received significant support from Pace-O-Matic and its executives include longtime skill games supporter Virginia Senate President pro tempore Louise Lucas (D), who accepted $165,000 in donations; legislative co-patron Del. Debra Gardner (D), who received $14,500 in contributions; legislative co-patron Del. Rozia Henson (D), who took in $3,500 from the company; and Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates Don Scott (D), who the firm gave just over $75,000 between 2023 and 2026.
Many rank-and-file legislators who voted in favor of the House and Senate bills to legalize skill games also received campaign checks from their manufacturers.
While the bill to legalize skill games has passed the Virginia House and Senate, it still needs to be signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D) before it can become law. Pace-O-Matic donated $50,000 to Spanberger’s 2026 inaugural committee, records show.
Spanberger, Pace-O-Matic, and the Democratic lawmakers mentioned above were contacted for comment.
