Video lottery terminals (VLTs) dot Missouri’s landscape of convenience stores, truck stops, gas stations, and barrooms, but their legal status has always been somewhat murky.
However, a federal judge recently issued a ruling against a Missouri-based gaming machine company, stating the VLTs are in violation of the law.
Slot Machines Masquerading as VLTs
On February 13th, U.S. District Judge John Ross ruled against Torch Electronics, a Missouri-based gaming machine company, in a lawsuit brought by TNT Amusement, an arcade company that claimed it had lost business because of Torch’s VLTs.
The upshot of the case, however, is that a federal judge ruled that VLTs are illegal.
Torch Electronics and other gaming companies that distribute VLTs argue that their machines are different from traditional slots because the result is not technically chosen at random but is instead based on a set of predetermined outcomes. Therefore, they fall outside the boundaries of a game of chance and are instead a game of skill.
The judge disagreed, writing that Torch’s machines “meet the statutory definition of a ‘gambling device’ and are therefore illegal under Missouri law when played outside a licensed casino.”
Not That Ambiguous
According to Missouri law, a gambling device is a machine that allows a player to bet money on the outcome of a game of chance, but the player can’t fully control the outcome with their skill.
Ross ruled that the machines are gambling devices under Missouri law because players risk something valuable on the outcome of a game of chance. The judge said that the games use things like random number generators and shuffled pools of prizes, which means that the results depend “in a material degree upon an element of chance.”
The ruling will compel Torch Electronics to pay $500,000 to TNT Amusement, but an appeal is likely, according to Torch’s spokesperson, Gregg Keller, who said, “Once the court decides the remaining issues before it and enters a final judgment, Torch will appeal, as we’re confident our games adhere to the letter and the spirit of Missouri law.”
Not So Fast
Just when it appeared there were tremendous headwinds against Missouri’s VLTs, House Bill 2989, also called the Missouri Video Lottery Regulatory Act, passed in the House last week by an 83-66 margin and has advanced to the state Senate. HB 2989 would make it legal for lotteries to run VLTs.
Representative Bill Hardwick’s bill gives authority to the Missouri Lottery to issue licenses to companies running VLTs, and the bill stipulates that the machines would return an average of at least 80% of the money back to the customers. Approximately 30% of the VLT revenues would be taxed and earmarked for state education.
However, the timing of the bill, following the judge’s ruling against VLTs, confounded Missouri State Republican Representative Dean Van Schoiack.
“Why are we changing our laws for an industry that knows the laws of Missouri and says, ‘You can’t stop us from doing this; we’re going to do it anyway,’ and now we want to make it legal?”
