The effort to legalize video gambling machines in Missouri failed again this legislative session, after several years of unsuccessful attempts.
The bipartisan Senate Select Committee on Gaming voted unanimously against the latest bill Wednesday. Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin, R-Shelbina, who has long voiced concern about the legislation, created and chairs the committee.
"I think we have enough dysfunction in our families that [Missourians] need to hang on to their money, support their family," O'Laughlin said, adding she is most concerned about young people in rural areas becoming addicted.
O'Laughlin argued that expanding gambling should be put to Missouri voters, per the state constitution.
"So if people want to vote for that, they need to put it on the ballot," O'Laughlin said.
Also known as video lottery terminals or VLTs, the devices are found in gas stations, bars and fraternal organizations across Missouri.
The legislation, which narrowly passed the House 83-66 in February, would have allowed taxes on operators. The State Lottery Commission would have been responsible for licensing and controlling the machines with a centralized system.
It also would have limited the maximum wager per game to $4 and barred people under the age of 21 from playing.
The devices are sometimes called gray machines because they're legally ambiguous. Proponents who testified in favor of the legislation this year said they're not gambling devices because they allow players to see the outcome beforehand – and the legalization would provide the state with tax revenue for public education.
"I see that, after all the noise and the hubbub, what you're doing actually is a sensible thing for the state of Missouri," Rep. Bill Hardwick, R-Dixon, who sponsored the bill, told members of a House committee in February. "And it's a responsible thing for a state to think about what rules and responsibilities and regulations are."
In February, a federal judge ruled the machines are illegal gambling devices under state law. Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway followed the ruling by filing suit against retail stores operating the machines.
In April, the state's biggest supplier of VLTs, Torch Electronics, unplugged its machines across the state.
When asked whether she believed the issue would come up again next year, O'Laughlin said some people still want the machines to be regulated.
"If we're going to have that line of reasoning, why don't we just open the door wide open and for everything that's illegal say, 'We'll just regulate and tax these,'" O'Laughlin said.
Copyright 2026 St. Louis Public Radio
