News

Missouri lawmakers struggle with ‘rogue’ slot machines

February 18, 2020

A Missouri lawmaker withdrew a proposal to penalize business owners over illegal slot machines, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report.

Sen. Mike Cunningham of Rogersville shelved his bill to outlaw slot machine type games after other lawmakers objected that it did not do anything to expand legal gambling.

Dave Schatz, the pro tem senate president, believes the state first has to do something about illegal gambling before exploring more legal gambling. Schatz wants to better define the term "gambling device" to eliminate uncertainty about the legality of the machines. While Schatz said he believes the machines are illegal under current law, the legislation he supports would tighten the definition of a "gambling device" to remove any uncertainty about the machines.

State officials claim there are 14,000 slot machines in the state that are not in casinos.

The state currently does not regulate acceptable payouts from "rogue" machines and the revenues from such devices don’t support public education.

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