Judge Rules Gas Station Slot Machines are Illegal Gaming Devices

A judge ruled Friday that slot machines that have operated for years in bars, restaurants, and convenience stores in Missouri are illegal under state law, the Missouri Independent reported Monday. 

In October, a federal jury ordered Torch Electronics, a gaming operator, to pay $500,000 to a competitor which successfully sued, alleging Torch had driven business away by claiming Torch machines were not gambling devices and therefore lawful. 

Judge Ross wrote that based on that verdict, Torch machines meet the statutory definition of gambling devices and are illegal when played outside a licensed casino. 

Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has started to file lawsuits against retail shops alleging they were operating illegal gambling machines on their premises.

The Missouri House is considering legislation that would replace current Missouri Lottery games with a state-run video lottery system. Companies profiting from unregulated convenience store slot machines would have one year to pull their games off the market. The Missouri Lottery would have authority to license video games for installation in retail locations across the state. Such licensed machines would have to pay out at least 80% of the money wagered as prizes, and one third of the profits to state education programs. There would be a 3% tax to aid local governments. 

Missouri Offering $10,000 Cash Prizes for Vaccinated People

Starting this month, the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services and the Missouri Lottery are offering $10,000 drawings for people who have gotten vaccinated. Missouri will raffle off 80 cash prizes to people who received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on or after July 21st, 80 more prizes to people who received their shot before July 21st, and 20 education savings accounts for people aged 12-17 who got their shot. To enter, go to covidvaccine.mo.gov. The deadline is August 11th, and winners will be announced on August 25th. There will be five such rounds; winners will be announced on September 8th, September 22nd, October 6th, and October 20th.

Couple Wins $250 from Lottery

Bob and Donna Farrell of Grant City won $250 from the Show-Me Cash game this week. The winning ticket was sold by Casey's in Grant City. There was another $1,000 winner sold by Casey's last month and a $10,000 ticket sold in Albany.

A Moment with Mike -- Veterans Homes Funding

A major topic of concern and speculation has been the creation of a stable funding source for our veterans homes throughout Missouri. Our veterans are true patriots who embody the American Spirit and who have sacrificed much to ensure that we live in this land of liberty. It is our responsibility to assure them of proper care when the need arises.
Last week the House passed legislation meant to provide this funding source for the state’s seven veterans homes, which are currently in desperate need of additional funds. The bill we approved would dedicate more of the state’s lottery prize money to education, which would in turn free up funding generated by casino entrance fees to be used for the state’s veterans homes. This change could generate as much as $30 million to help keep the existing seven homes open and potentially build an eighth home in the future.
HB 1731 would change the disbursement of lottery prize money so that 31.5 percent goes to education. Under current law, education receives 27 percent of lottery money. The change would provide approximately $35 million in funding to early childhood education – an increase of slightly more than $4 million. By drawing funding for early childhood education from lottery prize money, the current funding source derived from the existing casino entrance fee would be freed up to help maintain the state’s veterans homes. The change would reduce the amount of prize money going back to lottery winners from 63 cents of every dollar to 59.5 cents.
This solution allows us to provide a stable funding source for our veterans homes and even allows us to increase funding to early childhood education and the Missouri National Guard Trust Fund. The best part is this proposal does it without any kind of increase in entrance fees or taxes. This funding will let us keep our current veterans homes open and realistically look at another home to provide more bed space to accommodate some of those 1,600 veterans that are currently on the waiting list.
Another bill approved last week would create a period of tax amnesty for those who have yet to pay their tax bills. Our state has done this twice in the last decade to help the Department of Revenue collect overdue taxes from individuals and businesses. This amnesty program brought $74 million in tax revenues in 2004 and $42 million the next year. House Bill 1030 would waive interest and penalties for those who pay their tax bills between Aug. 1 and Oct. 31. By offering this amnesty program, we could generate tens of millions of dollars in revenue which would make the task off balancing our state budget that much easier and allow us to sustain funding to vital programs that might otherwise suffer cuts.
If you have questions, you may reach me at my Capitol number 573-751-9465, at the local district number, 660-582-4014, by email at mike.thomson@house.mo.gov or by mail at Room 401B State Capitol Building, Jefferson City, MO 65101.