Main Street Voices

Owning and operating a small business is harder and more expensive than ever in this economic climate. Small businesses everywhere are facing higher prices for products and services while working to keep prices stable for our customers.

We need the Missouri legislature to take action on policies that will help small businesses and local communities by allowing us to expand our offerings to the customers we serve. One simple solution is for the Missouri General Assembly to pass legislation allowing small businesses like mine to offer video lottery game terminals (VLTs) in our establishments.

After fifteen years in the Army, including military service for the U.S. on three continents, I returned home to St. Joseph following a service-connected injury, and bought First Ward House, an historic bar and American grill, and the oldest saloon west of the Mississippi. Our customers come for the food and drinks, but also the entertainment, including live music, our coin-operated offerings like our jukebox, pool tables and dart boards, and our Missouri Lottery scratchers.

Our small business is constantly evolving and modernizing, and we want the next generation of entertainment in our location. This is why we and many other small businesses want to expand our entertainment offerings to include VLTs. This will require the Missouri legislature taking action in the upcoming legislative session to create the necessary regulatory framework.

A VLT regulatory framework would not limit these games to just a handful of communities in select locations – it would benefit communities across Missouri with new revenue for small businesses and new tax revenue for local municipalities.

We are lucky to have a casino in my home city of St. Joseph, but hundreds of communities across Missouri do not have easy access to this entertainment, and my town should have more than one option for gaming entertainment. Allowing VLTs would also provide gaming opportunities for more rural Missourians instead of restricting where responsible entertainment can take place.

In addition to helping small businesses on main streets across Missouri, the revenue generated by VLTs will create a new and significant revenue stream going to education for Missouri kids. Without VLTs, Missouri is currently missing out on this revenue for education.

As a veteran, I am especially excited about the new revenue that VLTs would help generate for Missouri veterans. VFW posts and other pro-veteran lodges, halls and clubs could leverage this entertainment option to help provide more to veterans with services such as health care, housing and support.

I encourage the Missouri legislature to support VLTs and create this new revenue source for education, veterans and our local communities.

Restaurants and small businesses lucky enough to survive pandemic restrictions have had to innovate and reimagine how we can best serve our customers. With the pandemic behind us, now inflation is driving up costs, making it even tougher on small businesses like mine.

As the owner of Side Pockets in Blue Springs, I am constantly focused on bringing new and better offerings to our customers. This is one of the reasons I support legislation that would allow me to offer video gaming in my business.

Known as Video Lottery Terminals, or VLTs, these gaming systems would provide a new source of entertainment for my customers and a new source of revenue for my business and local community.

I’ve been in business for over 17 years and have many friends in the hospitality industry, including those in states that allow VLTs. These business owners tell me VLTs have been a game changer for them. They say everybody wins. Small businesses get new entertainment offerings and revenue. Local communities get additional tax revenue. And their state governments get more resources for kids and education.

Every day that goes by without video gaming, Missouri is missing out on these opportunities.

Side Pockets in Blue Springs has over 16,000 square feet, making our location an ideal place for VLT entertainment. We have pool tables, darts and other entertainment that people want. But our customers want VLTs, too. We are ready to offer video gaming, but we need the state legislature to take action.

If the elected members of the State House and State Senate want to be pro-small business, pro-Missouri main street and pro-education, I believe pro-VLT policy should be a priority for them when they return to Jefferson City in January.

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.