Video gaming machines nearer to legalization in Missouri however face uphill battle in Senate

Missouri House members on Wednesday handed a invoice to legalize and regulate video gaming machines in Missouri.

Lawmakers voted 83-66 to move the invoice, which was only one vote above the wanted threshold.

It now goes to the Senate, the place it faces an uphill battle.

The laws is probably the most party-divided invoice the House has taken up this session, with Democrats and Republicans on each side of the vote.

In committee, testimony was similarly divided, with proponents wanting the machines regulated and taxed, whereas opponents stated they do not need them of their communities.

The invoice would legalize the video gaming machines present in gasoline stations, fraternal organizations and different places all through the state.

Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, sponsor of the invoice, stated it is one of the best ways to control the machines.

“This bill gives the attorney general enforcement authority. This bill is the bill that says all the illegal gaming is enforced, it goes away. This is the bill that eliminates the gray market,” Hardwick stated.

The legality of those gadgets, that are generally referred to as video lottery terminals or grey machines, has been a repeated sticking level in discussions over the invoice. A decide final week ruled the machines are unlawful playing gadgets underneath state legislation.

Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, R-Savannah, talked about that ruling in his arguments in opposition to the invoice, pushing again in opposition to the opinion that legalizing machines is the one option to regulate them.

“These machines are illegal. Why in the world are we changing our laws for an industry that thumbed their nose at the State of Missouri, at the laws of the State of Missouri, and said, ‘You can’t keep us from doing this,'” Van Schoiack stated.

The invoice would require the State Lottery Commission to create a system of video gaming machines in addition to subject licenses to producers, distributors, operators, handlers and retailers.

The terminals themselves could be linked to a centralized management system that’s both developed or obtained by the lottery fee. Those machines must be all the time linked to that system.

The laws features a most wager restrict of $4 per sport. The invoice limits the variety of machines an operator could have at anybody retailer location to eight. People underneath the age of 21 could be barred from enjoying.

The operators of the machines should pay the lottery fee 31% of the adjusted gross gaming income. The fee would hold the quantity essential to cowl administrative bills. The relaxation could be cut up evenly between public major and secondary schooling and public larger schooling establishments.

Additionally, 20% of these funds will go to a newly created “Public Elementary and Secondary School Construction and Rehabilitation Grant Fund.”

According to Hardwick, the invoice additionally criminalizes the present unregulated machines.

“It clearly criminalizes them, and it’s a one-year delay until there’s criminal enforcement against them, so they have basically a period of time to get rid of them and get right with the law,” Hardwick stated.

Rep. Pattie Mansur, D-Kansas City, stated she was annoyed by how the invoice has been introduced to lawmakers.

“We are being urged to accelerate the passage of a bill by being told it’s the only mechanism available to us to get rid of illegal gaming machines,” Mansur stated. “So, we’re being told the only way we’re going to get rid of this is to pass this bill. I find that an unacceptable stance.”

Other representatives, like David Dolan, R-Sikeston, stated that voting for this laws is a quicker option to resolve the problem of unregulated machines, quite than await the courtroom case to be totally litigated. One firm that owns the machines, Torch Electronics, has stated it is going to enchantment the ruling.

“I can tell you that the quickest way to resolve this is to vote in favor of this bill because it carries a local option. If the folks in your district say we don’t want these machines, we’re going to vote them out of our jurisdictions,” Dolan stated.

The invoice permits counties and municipalities to move an ordinance banning video gaming terminals inside 120 days after the efficient day of the act.

While the House has handed the invoice, it faces a a lot more durable route within the Senate.

Senate Republican leaders have already indicated they don’t see a path ahead for such a laws.

Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio