Missouri House members Wednesday passed a bill that legalizes and regulates video gaming machines in Missouri.
Lawmakers voted 83-66 to pass the bill, which was just one vote above the needed threshold.
It now goes to the Senate where it faces an uphill battle.
The legislation is the most party-divided bill the House has taken up this session, with both Democrats and Republicans on each side of the vote.
In committee, testimony was similarly divided, with proponents wanting the machines regulated and taxed, while opponents said they don’t want them in their communities.
The bill legalizes the video gaming machines found in gas stations, fraternal organizations and other locations throughout the state.
Bill sponsor Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, said this legislation is the best way to regulate these machines.
“This bill gives the Attorney General enforcement authority. This bill is the bill that says all the illegal gaming is enforced, it goes away. This is the bill that eliminates the gray market,” Hardwick said.
The legality of these devices, which are sometimes called video lottery terminals or gray machines, has been a repeated sticking point in discussions over the bill.
However, a judge last week ruled the machines are illegal gambling devices under state law.
Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, R-Savannah, mentioned that ruling in his arguments against the bill, pushing back against the opinion that legalizing machines is the only way to regulate them.
“These machines are illegal. Why in the world are we changing our laws for an industry that thumbed their nose at the state of Missouri, at the laws of the state of Missouri, and said, ‘You can’t keep us from doing this,’” Van Schoiack said.
The bill requires the State Lottery Commission to create a system of video gaming machines as well as issue licenses to manufacturers, distributors, operators, handlers and retailers.
The terminals themselves would be connected to a centralized control system that is either developed or obtained by the lottery commission. Those machines must be always connected to that system.
The legislation includes a maximum wager limit of $4 per game. The bill limits the number of machines an operator may have at any one retailer location to eight. People under the age of 21 would be barred from playing.
The operators of the machines must pay the lottery commission 31% of the adjusted gross gaming revenue. The commission would keep the amount necessary to cover administrative expenses. The rest would be split evenly between public primary and secondary education and public higher education institutions.
Additionally, 20% of those funds will go to a newly created “Public Elementary and Secondary School Construction and Rehabilitation Grant Fund.”
According to Hardwick, the bill also criminalizes the current unregulated machines.
“It clearly criminalizes them, and it’s a one-year delay until there’s criminal enforcement against them, so they have basically a period of time to get rid of them and get right with the law,” Hardwick said.
Rep. Pattie Mansur, D-Kansas City, said she was frustrated by how the bill has been presented to lawmakers.
“We are being urged to accelerate the passage of a bill by being told it’s the only mechanism available to us to get rid of illegal gaming machines,” Mansur said. “So, we’re being told the only way we’re going to get rid of this is to pass this bill. I find that an unacceptable stance.”
Other representatives, like David Dolan, R-Sikeston, said that voting for this legislation is a faster way to resolve the issue of unregulated machines, rather than wait for the court case to be fully litigated. One company that owns the machines, Torch Electronics, has said it will appeal the ruling.
“I can tell you that the quickest way to resolve this is to vote in favor of this bill because it carries a local option. If the folks in your district say we don’t want these machines, we’re going to vote them out of our jurisdictions,” Dolan said.
The bill allows counties and municipalities to pass an ordinance banning video gaming terminals within 120 days after the effective day of the act.
While the House has passed the bill, it faces a much tougher route in the Senate.
Senate Republican leadership has already indicated they do not see a path forward for this type of legislation.