A bill to authorize video lottery games in gas stations and other locations suffered a decisive defeat Wednesday in a Missouri Senate committee, ending for another year hopes of vendors hoping to replace unregulated games.
With no discussion, the Senate Select Committee on Gaming voted unanimously against the House-passed bill. The committee was set up by Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin to consider the bill, and she made herself the chair.
O’Laughin, a Republican from Shelbina, has been a long-time opponent of video lottery games and said nothing she’s heard has changed her position.
“My problem is it’s horrible for all the communities, and if we want to expand gaming, we can put it on the ballot,” O’Laughlin said.
Backers of video lottery games promoted it as a big new source of revenue for Missouri, seeking to win support as the general revenue surplus is depleted and Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe pushes for repeal of the state income tax.
The bill was estimated to generate about $300 million in new revenue for education and $56 million for veterans services. That amount is attractive, state Sen. Stephen Webber, a Columbia Democrat, said after the committee vote.
But Webber said he voted against the bill because his hometown is considering an ordinance banning unregulated games and gambling of all kinds is a growing social problem.
“I’m becoming increasingly concerned with gambling,” Webber said. “I think that sports gambling is probably more impactful in a negative way than, five or six years ago, I thought it might be. I certainly am sympathetic to the revenue argument, but at some point, like, the state can’t just be built on sin taxes.”
Under the legislation, the Missouri Lottery would have authority to license video games for installation in retail locations across the state. The licensed machines would have to pay out at least 80% of the money wagered as prizes and about one-third of the profits would be dedicated to state education programs.
The bill would also impose a 3% tax on video lottery profits to aid local governments and would increase the fee casinos pay for each patron who enters the gaming floor from $2 to $4.The bill also included an annual $250 fee per machine to go towards disability services.
The bill was opposed by the Missouri Gaming Association, which represents the state’s 13 licensed casinos. The casinos believe the thousands of unregulated machines in Missouri’s market has cost them — and the state — hundreds of millions in tax dollars since they began appearing in 2019.
“We’re very happy with the vote,” said Mike Winter, lobbyist for the casinos group.
Casino tax revenue, which is based on the amount lost by gamblers, has been growing, but at a slow pace. And in March, as the rapid rise in gas prices due to the Iran war took hold, casinos reported an 11% drop in revenue compared to March 2025.
“We’ve always been of the belief that, with the number of illegal machines that are out there, that people are going to those locations to gamble illegally on a slot machine rather than coming to our facilities,” Winter said.
The defeat comes as Republican Attorney General Catherine Hanaway, in cooperation with federal authorities, has been moving to shut down the unregulated machines.
The new enforcement push began around the time U.S. District Judge James Ross wrote a formal ruling to back up an October jury decision that Torch Electronics, the biggest vendor in the state market, was illegally competing with arcade-like games by offering illegal slot machines.
Ross, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, said in a February decision that Torch’s machines “meet the statutory definition of ‘gambling device’ and are therefore illegal under Missouri law when played outside a licensed casino.”
In early April, Hanaway announced that Torch had agreed to shut off all its machines in Missouri as it seeks a settlement to avoid criminal charges. No final settlement has been announced, but the machines remain off.
There are other vendors who provide slot machine-like games similar to those offered by Torch. Hanaway has not announced any actions against other game vendors.
Winter said he anticipates tax revenue from casinos will rise as the games are shut down.
“It’s going to take time as Attorney General Hanaway goes after more and more of these illegal machine operations,” Winter said. “I believe you’ll see an uptick in admissions at the casinos as more and more of those machines are pulled out of operation.”
