Khalid Jones has ended his term as executive director of the Virginia Lottery, a move he announced in a video posted to LinkedIn. Tony R. Russell, most recently the agency’s deputy executive director of ITS and operations, has been named acting executive director, and the office of Gov. Abigail Spanberger is responsible for appointing a permanent successor. Jones was appointed to the post by then-Gov. Glenn Youngkin in April 2024 and oversaw the lottery along with the licensing and regulation of Virginia’s five casinos and online sports betting.
In December 2025, Jones was named lead director of the Mega Millions Consortium, the multijurisdictional group administered by the directors of its 12 original lotteries, including Virginia. The Virginia Lottery set a sales record in fiscal 2025, generating $5.8 billion in sales and $901.5 million in income from operations, and it transferred $868.2 million to the state fund that supports public education. Russell has been with the lottery since 2013 and previously held senior leadership positions at Kroger and FedEx.
