Missouri regulators field complaints, inquiries about spread of slot machines
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JEFFERSON CITY — Missouri gaming regulators have recorded nearly 100 reports of illegal slot machines this year as the unregulated industry continues to flood the state with gambling devices.
But, not all of the people who call the Missouri Gaming Commission or fill out one of its complaint forms are upset about the spread of the unregulated and untaxed machines.
Of the 93 reports collected since Jan. 1, at least 10 of them were inquiries from business owners looking to get a line on the questionably legal, but potentially lucrative action.
In one notation provided by the commission, one person was hoping to strike it rich.
“Caller wants to open ‘mini casino,’” the log noted.
Another person also was fishing for information about how to enter a racket that has befuddled law enforcement officials based on pliant state gambling laws.
“Caller wants to know how to get a license and get suspected illegal machines in his business,” the report said.
Unlike Illinois and other states where video gambling is taxed and regulated by the government, Missouri officials have been unable to stop politically connected companies from transforming gas stations and bars into gaming stops for customers.
In response, the gaming commission opened an online portal to gather complaints, which are then forwarded to the Missouri State Highway Patrol for further investigation.
Some of those complaints have yielded charges and penalties in counties where prosecuting attorneys are willing to take the matter before a judge.
For the callers seeking to get machines placed in their businesses, the gaming commission does not assist them.
“When calls come in about how people can put machines in their business, we tell them those types of machines are not regulated by the Missouri Gaming Commission,” said Elizabeth Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the agency that regulates riverboat gambling, charitable bingo and fantasy sports contests.
Although agencies like the Missouri Lottery have urged lawmakers and law enforcement officials to take action, it is rare to see a gas station in many parts of the state that does not have the machines.
The owners of the slot machines argue that they are not illegal, saying a feature on the device that lets players know if they will win the next game is a loophole that makes them not illegal.
Some of the complaints fielded by the gaming commission are coming from people who play the slots but feel they’ve been cheated. There currently are no direct laws on the books that are designed to protect players of the illegal machines from being ripped off.
Yet people still put money into the machines.
“Machines in Grandview not paying,” said one summary notation.
“Machines in Greene County not paying out,” said another.
“Gas station won’t pay winnings in Holland and in Steele,” added another.
The gaming commission report shows the machines are in nearly every community.
From Kansas City to the Lake of the Ozarks to St. Louis, Troy and Perryville, the complaints crisscross the state.
One complaint said the machines at nearby merchants are hurting his own business.
The report said the man “owns many gas stations and (is) not happy that competition is getting more business because they have illegal machines.”
The prospect of any action by lawmaker is not promising.
Members of the Legislature have been unable to ban the machines for years, despite the outgoing president of the Senate, Dave Schatz, R-Franklin, making the abolition of illegal gambling a top priority in his final two years in office before term limits end his tenure.
One of the top companies involved in the spread of the machines, Wildwood-based Torch Electronics, has employed lobbyist Steve Tilley, the powerful former Speaker of the Missouri House, to block efforts to regulate slot machines outside of casinos.
