St. Louis Post-Dispatch
It appears the Missouri Legislature will adjourn next month without approving a sports-betting package that would significantly enhance state gambling tax revenue, as most other states do. Its failure comes not because the idea lacks support in Jefferson City but because a related component of the proposal is to finally settle the issue of the unlicensed, untaxed video gaming machines that operate with impunity all over the state — and that well-heeled industry apparently has enough lawmakers in its pocket to prevent such regulation from happening. Thus, Missouri’s taxpayers are now being doubly ripped off by illegal gambling operations and the legislators who protect them.
With electronic sports betting legalized in seven of the eight states that touch Missouri (in the eighth, Kentucky, legislation is pending), the leaders of the Show Me state are showing their constituents how to lose tax revenue. During February’s Super Bowl alone, more than a quarter-million Missouri-based internet accounts were blocked in attempts to place bets, The Kansas City Star reported. Many other Missourians undoubtedly crossed state lines to place bets in states where it’s legal, or turned to illegal offshore betting sites. Thousands of Missourians, across sports and seasons, are placing bets from which other states or foreign entities profit in taxes and fees.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Missouri today is among the few states that haven’t legalized sports betting. Surrounded on all sides by states that regulate and tax such betting, Missouri is essentially leaving money on the table. Legislation this session to change that deserves careful consideration — but only if it’s paired with reforms to tax the rogue video gambling machines that have proliferated all over the state without regulation or taxation in the absence of coherent statutes governing them.
There are certainly societal downsides to gambling, but the debate over whether it should be legal is effectively over. For better or worse, America has decided that gambling, like alcohol, marijuana and other once-banned vices, should be available to adults who want it. Missouri, like most states, already regulates and taxes legal gambling in the form of the state lottery and the casino industry. The best way to mitigate those societal downsides is to ensure the games are in fact well-regulated and that the tax rate is high enough that the benefit to the taxpayers outweighs the social costs (enough to fund gambling-addiction treatment programs in addition to substantial new money to education, for example).
But these are exactly the things that aren’t happening in relation to the thousands of unregulated video gambling terminals in bars and gas stations around the state. Until that open flouting of state gaming laws is reined in, it will continue to drain away tax revenue the state gets from the legitimate gambling industry. Any new, legalized sports-betting market would be setting up shop under a similar disadvantage.
We have previously examined and dismissed the strained arguments of video gambling purveyors, who claim their products are mere entertainment rather than gambling. That’s nonsense. Their only real argument is Jefferson City clout. As a result, the Missouri Legislature has been paralyzed on the issue, leaving local prosecutors hesitant to confront these plainly illegal games without more specific guidance from the state.
New legislation in the just-opened 2023 legislative session seeks to remedy that by either banning or regulating and taxing the video games. At least one bill would legalize and tax it in conjunction with creating a legal sports-gambling industry — a reasonable pairing, since expanding the legal gambling industry in any way makes little practical sense as long as these untaxed video gambling scofflaws are still siphoning money away from that industry.
Whether the video gambling and sports betting should be in the same bill or in separate ones moving concurrently is a question for the legislative sausage-makers. But the Legislature should absolutely not make any change to state gaming laws that doesn’t address the video issue once and for all. Legalizing sports gambling in Missouri is an idea whose time has come — but legislators will be betting against its success if they do it without calling the bluff of illegal video gambling.
Courier Tribune
Family-owned businesses like mine are struggling in this economy and we need leaders in Jefferson City to take real action to support our state’s small businesses. One solution that would make a huge difference is for the Missouri legislature to support allowing video lottery terminals in small businesses like mine.
Boozers, my bar and grill in Liberty, is still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. We were forced to close for months. When we finally did reopen, we had the increased expenses of expanding our outdoor area to follow ever-changing rules and regulations. Once we thought we had weathered the COVID storm, we are being hit with rising prices due to inflation.
Our grill offerings represent 50% of our business and costs have gone through the roof. We are paying about triple of what we were paying two years ago, while still doing everything we can to keep prices as low as possible for our customers. On top of everything else, we needed a new roof this year, which together with a new AC system and regular equipment maintenance to keep our facility in prime condition has created even more expenses.
Video lottery terminals would create a new revenue stream for our business and help us at least break even. We currently have a bowling machine and one pool table, which our customers love. Video gaming would be a perfect match for us, and we have the space to make sure this gaming is operated securely and safely.
Beyond additional revenue for us, video gaming would mean additional revenue for our local community, public education for Missouri kids and veterans who served our country in uniform. It would also help support one of the main reasons I opened my small business in the first place, which is to support causes and charities that make a difference.
Our bar and grill recently completed our 12th annual event for Children’s Medical Network and we are constantly hosting motorcycle runs and many more activities that support our community. We will continue to support these causes in good times and bad, but it’s time for the Missouri legislature to take action to support working families.
As a mother of five, owner of a woman-owned small business, I urge the Missouri legislature to support small businesses by supporting legislation allowing video gaming.
The Examiner
Restaurants and small businesses lucky enough to survive pandemic restrictions have had to innovate and reimagine how we can best serve our customers. Now inflation is driving up costs, making it even tougher on small businesses like mine.
Source: https://www.examiner.net/2022/11/29/missouri-should-allow-video-gambling/
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