One sale to a minor costs $2,500. Virginia ABC issued that penalty 214 times last year.
A VHN analysis of Virginia ABC's FY2026 final Board orders found 589 disciplinary matters, $1,143,700 in civil penalties and 12 revocations. Selling to someone under 21 accounted for more than half the caseload and roughly two thirds of the money.
If you want to know what Virginia ABC actually does all day, the answer is that it fines people for selling beer to twenty-year-olds.
Sales or deliveries to people younger than 21 accounted for more than half of every disciplinary matter the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority resolved in fiscal year 2026, and roughly two thirds of the money.
VHN analyzed Virginia ABC’s final Board order spreadsheet covering July 2025 through June 2026. It records 589 disciplinary matters with disposition dates in the period, containing 726 individual charges, plus 30 contested license application matters that are not counted here.
What one sale costs
Of those 589 matters, 304 involved sale or delivery to a person the licensee knew or had reason to believe was under 21. That is 51.6 percent of the caseload.
The spreadsheet lists $1,143,700 in disciplinary civil penalties across 488 matters. Underage cases accounted for $747,000 of it, or 65.3 percent.
The number worth writing down is $2,500. It appeared in 214 of the 304 underage matters. Not the ceiling, not the floor, just what it costs.
| Civil penalty | Matters |
|---|---|
| $2,000 | 5 |
| $2,500 | 214 |
| $3,000 | 1 |
| $3,500 | 9 |
| $4,000 | 30 |
| $4,500 | 1 |
| $5,000 | 2 |
| $6,000 | 1 |
| $7,500 | 2 |
| $12,000 | 1 |
Thirty-eight underage matters carried no civil penalty at all.
Suspensions are the part operators underestimate. Thirty-nine underage matters carried one, totaling 1,007 days, with a median of 25 days. A $2,500 check is an annoyance. Closing the bar for three and a half weeks in a 25-day month is a different kind of year.
The full FY2026 picture
| Measure | FY2026 |
|---|---|
| Disciplinary matters | 589 |
| Individual charges | 726 |
| Matters listing a civil penalty | 488 |
| Total civil penalties | $1,143,700 |
| Median civil penalty | $2,500 |
| Matters listing a suspension | 85 |
| Listed suspension days | 1,673 |
| Mandatory suspension days with penalties | 310 |
| License revocations | 12 |
| Dismissed matters | 4 |
| Matters identified as repeat offenses | 80 |
Fifteen matters carried mandatory suspensions alongside civil penalties, adding 310 days on top.
Eighty matters were flagged as repeat offenses. Under § 4.1-227 a second or subsequent offense inside five years is what moves a case from a fine toward a suspension or a revocation, so that column is the one to watch if you have a prior.
What else gets cited
Underage sales lead by a wide margin. After that the list is mostly paperwork.
| Violation category | Matters |
|---|---|
| Sale or delivery to a person under 21 | 304 |
| Annual-review reporting | 53 |
| Wholesaler tax reporting, malt beverage or wine | 48 |
| Dishonored checks or payments | 38 |
| Restaurant qualification or food-sales requirements | 36 |
| Mixed-beverage stamp violations | 19 |
| Designated manager violations | 15 |
These categories are not mutually exclusive. One matter can carry several charges and land in more than one row.
The grouping underneath is worth noticing. Annual-review reports, wholesaler tax reports and dishonored payments together account for 139 matters, none of which involve anyone being served anything. They are filing failures. They are also entirely avoidable by a calendar reminder.
Almost nobody fights
86.6 percent of the caseload never reached a contested decision.
| Disposition | Matters | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Expedited consent | 358 | 60.8% |
| Negotiated order | 152 | 25.8% |
| Initial decision | 69 | 11.7% |
| Board appeal | 10 | 1.7% |
| Total | 589 | 100% |
Six in ten matters ended in expedited consent, which is the administrative equivalent of paying the ticket. Another quarter were negotiated. Ten reached the Board on appeal, out of 589.
Whether that reflects clear-cut cases or the cost of contesting one is not something a spreadsheet can answer. But an operator deciding whether to accept a consent order should know they would be joining 358 others who did the same.
The largest penalties
The biggest single figure was $59,500, in the PBR Hampton Roads and Tapps matter in Hampton. The negotiated order resolved three charges: mixed-beverage restaurant qualification requirements, failure to submit a complete and accurate annual-review report, and failure to comply with a previous Board order. The qualification charge was a second or subsequent offense within five years.
That combination is instructive. It was not one bad night. It was a food-ratio problem, plus a filing problem, plus ignoring a prior order.
| Licensee | Civil penalty |
|---|---|
| PBR Hampton Roads and Tapps | $59,500 |
| Aldi, Inc. | $12,000 |
| Wal-Mart Stores East LP | $7,500 |
| The Golden Pony | $7,500 |
| Waverly Mini Mart | $6,000 |
| Dunnsville One Stop | $6,000 |
| Stadium Sports Bar | $5,500 |
| 33 Quik Mart | $5,000 |
| Locke Store | $5,000 |
| Melos Restaurant and Lounge | $5,000 |
| Rio Cantina & Discoteca | $5,000 |
| 257 Grocery Express | $5,000 |
Twelve licenses revoked
The spreadsheet records 12 revocations in the period:
Jays Downtown Sports Lounge, Papis, Amphoras Diner Deluxe, Venue 112, Blue Ridge Vineyard, Juicy Brewing, Richmond West End Residence Inn, La Formula Del Sabor, Dairy Market, Ocean Market, Par 4 Bar & Grill Inc. and Status Restaurant and Lounge.
Twelve out of 589 matters is about two percent. Revocation remains rare, which is worth stating plainly given how often it gets invoked as a threat.