Shut Down Illegal Machines —
The AG Is Already on It

• Attorney General Catherine Hanaway has made cracking down on illegal slot machines a top priority. Her office is working with the FBI, IRS, and other federal agencies to investigate the billions flowing through unregulated machines in Missouri.

• A federal jury already found that games offered by Torch Electronics, the biggest player in the market, are illegal gambling devices.

• A federal judge agreed, finding that the machines are gambling devices under state law and therefore are illegal when operated outside a casino.

• These machines are completely unregulated (no consumer protections, no payout requirements, no reporting on how much money they take from Missourians). Financial records from just 20 Torch locations showed $32 million taken in, with only ~65% returned as prizes — far below the 80% minimum required at licensed casinos.

• AG Hanaway has warned that allowing these operations to continue unchecked will invite "real organized crime" into the state. Federal investigators are examining money laundering and banking concerns.

• The answer is enforcement, not legalization that rewards illegal operators.

Missouri Doesn't Need Neighborhood Slots —
Too Much, Too Fast

• Missouri already has 13 licensed casinos generating hundreds of millions annually for public schools. We have enough gaming opportunities.

• Legalizing VLTs doesn't solve the illegal machine problem; it replaces one problem with another. The current bill gives illegal operators a two-year grace period before they'd have to shut down.

• Look at Illinois to see where this leads. Illinois now has nearly 9,000 licensed video gaming locations with over 49,500 terminals statewide. That's a slot machine on practically every corner.

• Missouri should learn from Illinois's mistake, not repeat it. Enforce the law against illegal machines. Don't flood our communities with tens of thousands of new ones.

The Illinois Cautionary Tale — Crime, Property Values,
and Preying on the Poor

• VGTs increase crime and destroy property values. A University of Illinois study found video gambling establishments are associated with a 7.5% increase in violent crime and a 6.7% increase in property crime, while academic research links VGT expansion to destabilized property values in surrounding neighborhoods. In 2025 alone, Illinois reported 473 burglaries at video gambling locations — up 55% in just four years.

• VGTs prey on the poor. Lower-income communities have more VGTs and higher per-capita spending on them. A national study found problem gambling is twice as likely in high-poverty neighborhoods. ProPublica called VGTs the “crack cocaine of gambling” — since Illinois legalized them in 2012, gamblers have lost more than $5 billion, yet the state has failed to meaningfully address addiction.

Safe Communities — A Dangerous Trend of Loosening Restrictions

• Legalizing VLTs is part of a broader, reckless trend of moving regulated activities out of supervised environments and into every corner of our communities.

• We've seen it with THC products now sold at neighborhood gas stations and convenience stores instead of licensed dispensaries with trained staff and regulatory oversight.

• We've seen it with crypto ATMs popping up in grocery stores and gas stations instead of banking being handled at regulated financial institutions.

• Now they want to do the same thing with gambling — pull it out of licensed, monitored casinos and scatter it across thousands of neighborhood bars, gas stations, and convenience stores in our communities.

• VGTs and VLTs are two sides of the same coin. Whether illegal or state-authorized, the goal is the same: avoid the supervision, consumer protections, and accountability that come with regulated casino environments.

• Casinos have trained staff, security, self-exclusion programs, and mandatory payout requirements. A VLT at a neighborhood bar or gas station has none of that.

• This isn't modernization. It's reckless deregulation that puts vulnerable Missourians at risk and rewards the illegal operators.

• Safe communities mean keeping gambling where it can be monitored and controlled, not on every street corner.