Attorney Marc Ellinger, who began practicing gaming law in 1999, said that every past exception to gaming has required voter approval, including bingo, the lottery system and more recently, sports gambling.
Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has taken aim at stores hosting illegal gaming machines this year, and filed felony counts in March against a Greene County store for keeping such machines.
However, though they appreciate Hanaway’s efforts, bill proponents say that trying to enforce the current law will only delay the problem, as they expect gaming machine companies to find loopholes.
“We’ve been fighting this fight for 30 years, and you’re no closer to solving it today than you were then,” said Matt Hortenstine, who serves as general counsel at J&J Gaming in Illinois. “The only way you’ll do that, to solve that, is to pass this bill.”
Hortenstine said that enforcement of the “gray machine” ban has been difficult across many states, not just in Missouri. He also said that states such as his own have benefited from “millions” of dollars in tax revenue after implementing similar laws.
Senate leaders, including Senate Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, R-Shelbina, who chaired Wednesday’s hearing, said early in the session that this bill would likely not pass as the Missouri Senate has not considered the regulation of VLTs to be a high priority. The attorney general’s recent actions could encourage the Senate to take action.
Last year, a similar bill also narrowly passed in the House but died in the Senate.