Missouri bill seeks to ban ‘no-chance’ gambling machines

Missouri bill seeks to ban ‘no-chance’ gambling machines

The bill would clarify the current legal grey area.

US.- A bill presented to the Missouri House Committee on Emerging Issues on Monday (27) would specifically prohibit video gambling machines, which have become common in convenience stores and gas stations in the state. The machines currently operate in a legal grey area, with no clear laws prohibiting them.

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The machines are known as “no-chance” machines because instead of using a random number generator to determine outcomes, they have a fixed set of outcomes that rotate. The bill would present a means for owners to replace machines with regulated video lottery terminals, which would be required to operate with random outcomes, track play history and connect to a centralised computer system developed by the state lottery commission.

The bill would also place limits on who can manufacture and operate new video gambling terminals through a licensing system. It would also provide a mechanism for funding the Missouri State Highway Patrol to enforce the regulations.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, said: “I think that what we owe all of the businesses in the state of Missouri is regulatory certainty as to what exactly is authorised by the law, what exactly is not authorised by the law.”

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