RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Five years after becoming the first Southern state to legalize possession of marijuana, Virginia has approved a legal way to sell it to recreational users.
State budget legislation enacted Monday will allow up to 350 cannabis shops to open across Virginia beginning July 1, 2027. The move marks the latest expansion of access to the drug — which remains illegal at the federal level — through state-level policymaking.
“Virginia legalized adult possession years ago, but without a regulated retail market, we left the illicit market to fill the gap,” state Sen. Lashrecse Aird, a Democrat and legislative leader on the issue, said in a statement earlier this month. “This compromise gives us a smarter and safer path forward — one that protects consumers, keeps products tested and accurately labeled, and creates a legal marketplace that is affordable and accessible enough to actually compete.”
Here’s what to know about Virginia's new law, the long process of enabling retail sales and how the state's changes fit into the national picture:
Virginia already had a medical marijuana program that allowed patients to purchase the drug through dispensaries. Now, state regulators will begin accepting applications for retail licenses on Feb. 1, ahead of the July 1, 2027, start date for recreational sales to adults 21 and older.
The law increases the state's possession limit from 1 ounce to 2 ounces (28 grams to 57 grams) and it will continue to allow people to cultivate a small number of plants at home.
The state will levy an excise tax on top of its sales tax, and that mix is expected to generate about $51 million in revenue for the state in the program's first year, according to legislative budget documents.
Democrats have driven the state's push toward legalization and recreational retail sales. They have cast the issue as a matter of equity after state data found Black Virginians were disproportionately policed and convicted of using marijuana. Only a sliver of the state's Republican lawmakers have backed legalization, and many have raised public safety and health concerns.
Legalization advocates have generally cheered Virginia's legislation, though many objected to a provision increasing the civil fine for public consumption, arguing it could again lead to disproportionate enforcement based on race.
Chelsea Higgs Wise, a grassroots organizer whose group Marijuana Justice was among those that called on Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger to rethink the increased fine, said the legislation was still an exciting development after years of uncertainty.
For the past five years, “Adults that want to reasonably consume have been confused, rightfully so,” she said.
Marijuana is legal in most U.S. states for either medicinal or recreational use, with about half allowing it for recreational use, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, which advocates for legalization and tracks policy developments around the country.
Virginia remains an outlier in the South for its permissive approach.
Despite the fact that nearly all states permit some form of cannabis use, the U.S. government maintains its longstanding prohibition on the drug.
But in a major policy shift, the Trump administration in April announced it was reclassifying state-licensed medical marijuana as a less dangerous drug and accelerating the process for a broader reclassification.
During the 2010s, Virginia gradually expanded access to marijuana for medical treatment. Then, in 2021, Virginia became the first Southern state to legalize marijuana with the passage of a law that allowed adults 21 and over to possess and cultivate the drug.
But lawmakers didn’t fully enact a framework for retail sales outside of the state’s medical marijuana program. Partisan control of Virginia government flipped in November 2021, and the issue stalled out for years. In 2024, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed a bill that would have established recreational retail sales.
Spanberger, who assumed office in January 2026, pledged support during her winning campaign for legislation setting up a retail market. While the governor did veto Democratic legislation that emerged from this year's legislative session, she eventually worked out a compromise with lawmakers. Those provisions were rolled into a state budget bill that reached final passage Monday and now becomes law, according to the governor's office, after lawmakers accepted all of Spanberger's amendments.
FILE- A cannibis plant that is close to harvest grows in a grow room at the Greenleaf Medical Cannabis facility in Richmond, Va., June 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Sportsbook operators anticipated this year's World Cup would set betting records because the major elements were aligned.
The world's most popular sporting event is being played in North America, so U.S. audiences can see the games live while the sun is out or in the early evening. The U.S. also has a team that may be its most talented in history.
And then the U.S. went out and won its first two matches to capture its group.
“I think it has exceeded our expectations,” said Mark Bickerdike, Caesars Sportsbook's head of soccer trading, said of the money being bet.
DraftKings Sportsbook director Johnny Avello said the wagering on the 48-team World Cup, which opened the knockout stage on Sunday, is putting itself in the same company as the always popular NCAA Tournament in college basketball.
“It could be the biggest event of the year when it's all said and done,” Avello said. “March Madness takes place over the course of three weeks, and it rakes quite a bit of money. This is getting there.
“It blows the Super Bowl away. One game, one day. This thing here is way bigger than that.”
Christian Cipollini, BetMGM Sportsbook's trading manager, said the enormous interest in the U.S. team has only grown. The Americans open the single-elimination phase of the tournament on Wednesday night against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Santa Clara, California.
“I expect that to be BetMGM's most bet-on soccer game of all time,” Cipollini said. “In this World Cup, all three of our most bet-on games have been the three USA games. This game is leading up to be a perfect storm where the USA looks very good. There's a lot of hype around the team.”
The three sportsbooks list Kylian Mbappé-led France as the favorite to win it all, with Lionel Messi and defending champion Argentina not far behind. They are on opposite sides of the bracket, so if they face each other, it would be in the final, a rematch of four years ago.
At BetMGM, 15.3% of tickets have been on France, the most of any country, and it has received 20.4% of the money. That is slightly below Spain, which has taken in 20.5% of the handle, much if not most of it before the tournament.
Longtime handicapper Bruce Marshall cautioned against assuming France and Argentina would meet in the final.
“I could see seven or eight teams winning this thing,” Marshall said. “So any favorite at this stage, I don't know that there's great value there.”
Americans like a good underdog story, and wagers are coming in on some teams with exceptionally long odds.
“Bettors like to take a shot for a small amount of money and put it on those teams,” Avello said. “Of course, that risk is high for us because it doesn't take much. A $5 bet on Congo, it's $5,000 (in a payout). You take quite a few of those and the liability gets up pretty high on them.”
Marshall said it would make sense to take a look at Colombia (33-1 at BetMGM) or Switzerland (66-1) as teams with great value.
“Colombia looks really dangerous, and they're getting a lot of support,” Marshall said. “They played their first couple of games in Mexico, which were like home games for them.
“The one nobody's talking about is Switzerland, and they're one of these teams that remind me a of a club side. I say that in positive terms because they're very familiar with one another. A lot of these World Cup teams are sort of thrown together and haven't played much with each other. Switzerland's got guys who've played, 80, 100 games together.”
Should the Americans pull off the nearly unthinkable and win the World Cup, the sportsbooks would be feeling financial pain.
The U.S. has gone from a 50-1 long shot to 25-1 at BetMGM, and the Americans are 30-1 at Caesars and 33-1 at DraftKings.
“If the U.S. would’ve limped into the knockout round, our liability probably wouldn’t be as high as it is,” Cipollini said. “But the fact that they’ve looked good, there’s a lot of people that are, ‘They do have a chance.’ It’s on home soil. It’s easy to talk yourself into something we all kind of want to happen.”
A 1997 episode of “The Simpsons” featuring a match between Mexico and Portugal is causing some fans to believe the long-running TV show forecast that meeting in this year’s World Cup.
That’s not the case. Neither the World Cup nor the year 2026 were mentioned.
But those details apparently doesn’t matter to some bettors, causing a notable uptick in wagering on that matchup taking place.
“We have got a liability on that,” Bickerdike said.
See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here
Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) controls the ball against Jordan's Amer Jamous (6) during the World Cup Group J soccer match between Jordan and Argentina in Arlington, Texas, near Dallas, Saturday, June 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Sam Hodde)
France's Kylian Mbappe (10) controls the ball as Norway's Fredrik Aursnes (14) defends during the World Cup Group I soccer match between Norway and France in Foxborough, Mass., near Boston, Friday, June 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
United States' Sebastian Berhalter (14) celebrates scoring his side's second goal against Turkey during the World Cup Group D soccer match in Inglewood, Calif., near Los Angeles, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
