Missouri Senate Committee Rejects Video Lottery Legalization Bill

Funding Plan: Fees, Taxes, and Revenue Distribution 

By a 5-0 vote, the Senate’s select committee on gaming voted against passing House Bill 2989, which would have authorized the Missouri Lottery Commission to license as many as eight Video Lottery Terminals, or VLTs at a single location. 

A $250 fee on each machine would fund services for the developmentally disabled and profits from the money wagered would be split between the retailer, the lottery commission and the game vendor. It would also have included a 3% local tax on VLT profits.

Political Debate Over VLTs and Sports Betting

VLTs have been a hot political topic in Jefferson City for years, as lawmakers sought to tie legalizing sports betting to regulating the machines. A successful initiative petition campaign led by the state’s major league sports teams ultimately took that linkage out of lawmakers’ hands. 

In February, a federal court judge’s ruling that VLTs were illegal under the state constitution set the stage for a new legislative push to regulate the machines, and to provide new funds for programs at a time when lawmakers knew the state would be mindful of every cent in the state budget as reserves have dipped and federal pandemic-era funds dried up. The House bill would have provided roughly $300 million in funding for education alone.

Torch Electronics, the Wildwood firm that has licensed thousands of the machines to gas stations, convenience stores and other locations across the state, is appealing the ruling, but later agreed to have the machines turned off or removed, as Missouri Attorney General Catheine Hanaway’s office worked with federal and local prosecutors to crack down on the machines. A Torch-branded note on machines urged customers to lobby their lawmakers to pass favorable legislation.

HB 2989 ultimately passed the House by a razor-thin majority with 83 yes votes, before heading to the Senate, where President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a gambling opponent, sent the bill to a select committee she chaired. That committee previously heard testimony and voted on the measure Wednesday.

“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 told The Missouri Independent after the vote.

Torch declined comment Wednesday.

The committee vote will end the VLT debate in this legislative session, which ends May 15.