Missouri Gambling Laws

• Missouri Gaming Laws
• Is Gambling Illegal In Missouri

Missouri Statute: Chapter 313; Problem Gambling. About the List of Disassociated Persons ('DAP') Code of State Regulations (CSRs) Frequently Asked Questions; How to get off the Problem Gambling List; How to get on the Problem Gambling List. For starters, Missouri law requires that all forms of legal gambling be regulated by the state. Since online gambling is unregulated, it is technically illegal. No one has ever been prosecuted for placing an online bet in Missouri’s history – but the practice is illegal. Missouri's gambling laws allow licensed excursion gambling boats and floating facilities which houses poker, craps, blackjack. Bingo, when sponsored by a bona fide charitable organization, is also legal. The state operates an official lottery, intended to fund education.

Legislators came out aggressively trying to legalize Missouri sports betting in 2020 but the Show-Me State will have to wait until next year at least.

A special committee convened to look at the topic in October and bills were pre-filed before the year even started. A half dozenbills to legalize sports betting in Missouri were introduced by the time the session got going.

While the differing bills showed that there were still some issues to be worked out, one of them was expected to reach the finish line. Legal Sports Report pegged Missouri as one of five states most likely to legalize sports betting in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic changed many plans.

Missourians do have the option to place wagers using the DraftKings app when visiting Illinois. The app is available for download and registration can be completed anywhere within Illinois’ borders. An executive order allows registration anywhere in the state through Sept. 19; in-person registration at the state’s casinos could return after that date.

The future of Missouri sports betting

With how much attention legislators are paying to sports betting in Missouri, the state again will be a favorite to pass legislation in 2021.

First lawmakers need to work out some key differences on their bills. The main point of contention is whether to limit sports betting to the state’s riverboat casinos or also permit the Missouri Lottery Commission to to offer games based on the outcomes of sporting events.

Another proposal allowed sports betting in the entertainment areas around Busch Stadium, where the St. Louis Cardinals play, and adjacent to Sprint Center.

Some of the bills proposed in 2020 also tried to tie sports betting to a controversial issue in Missouri regarding sanctioning the Lottery Commission to implement a system of video lottery terminals at bars, truck stops, and entertainment districts around the state. Missouri sports betting could stand a better chance as a standalone bill.

Other details that need to be hashed out include whether or not to include an official league data mandate and the tax rate. The legislature at least made one advancement during the 2020 session, figuring out that bills shouldn’t give the leagues both an integrity fee and official league data.

When will online sports betting launch in Missouri?

When MO sports betting is legalized, mobile wagering is expected to be part of it. Legislation considered in 2020 permitted interactive wagering platforms to be tethered to the excursion gambling boats.

All of the most successful sports betting markets post-PASPA allow for mobile sports wagering. It’s particularly important to allow statewide access to online platforms in Missouri, as some Missourians live up to four hours from the closest riverboat casino.

How many skins, or brands, to allow is under debate in the legislature. Some bills limited skins to one, while one bill allowed up to three online platforms per licensee.

Recent Missouri sports betting news

Gambling Law: An Overview

Gambling, though widespread in the United States, is subject to legislation at both the state and federal level that bans it from certain areas, limits the means and types of gambling, and otherwise regulates the activity.

Congress has used its power under the Commerce Clause to regulate interstate gambling, international gambling, and relations between the United States and Native American territories. For example, it has passed laws prohibiting the unauthorized transportation of lottery tickets between states, outlawing sports betting with certain exceptions, and regulating the extent to which gambling may exist on Native American land.

Each state determines what kind of gambling it allows within its borders, where the gambling can be located, and who may gamble. Each state has enacted different laws pertaining to these topics. The states also have differing legal gambling ages, with some states requiring the same minimum age for all types of gambling, while for others, it depends on the activity. For example, in New Jersey, an 18-year-old can buy a lottery ticket or bet on a horse race, but cannot enter a casino until age 21. Presumably, the age 21 restriction is due to the sale of alcohol in that location.

A standard strategy for avoiding laws that prohibit, constrain, or aggressively tax gambling is to locate the activity just outside the jurisdiction that enforces them, in a more 'gambling friendly' legal environment. Gambling establishments often exist near state borders and on ships that cruise outside territorial waters. Gambling activity has also exploded in recent years in Native American territory. Internet-based gambling takes this strategy and extends it to a new level of penetration, for it threatens to bring gambling directly into homes and businesses in localities where a physical gambling establishment could not conduct the same activity.

Internet Gambling

Federal Regulation

In the 1990s, when the World Wide Web was growing rapidly in popularity, online gambling appeared to represent an end-run around government control and prohibition. A site operator needed only to establish the business in a friendly offshore jurisdiction such as the Bahamas and begin taking bets. Anyone with access to a web browser could find the site and place wagers by credit card. Confronted with this blatant challenge to American policies, the Department of Justice and Congress explored the applicability of current law and the desirability of new regulation for online gambling.

In exploring whether an offshore Internet gambling business taking bets from Americans violated federal law, attention was focused on the Wire Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1084 (2000). The operator of a wagering business is at risk of being fined and imprisoned under the Wire Act if the operator knowingly uses a 'wire communication facility' to transmit information related to wagering on 'any sporting event or contest.' 18 U.S.C. § 1084(a). An exception exists if that act is legal in both the source and destination locations of the transmission. § 1084(b). The Wire Act’s definition of “wire communication facility” appears to embrace the nation's entire telecommunications infrastructure, and therefore probably applies to online gambling. See § 1081.

The Department of Justice maintains that, under the Wire Act, all Internet gambling by bettors in the United States is illegal. U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary Hearing on Establishing Consistent Enforcement Policies in the Context of Online Wagers, 110th Cong., Nov. 14, 2007 (testimony of Catherine Hanaway, U.S. Attorney (E.D. Mo.), Dept. of Justice). The Fifth Circuit disagreed, ruling that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting, not other types of gambling. In re MasterCard Int’l Inc., 313 F.3d 257 (5th Cir. 2002).

In 2006, Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which made it illegal for wagering businesses to knowingly accept payment in connection with unlawful Internet gambling (though it does not itself make Internet gambling illegal). 109 Pub. L. 109-347, Title VIII (Oct. 13, 2006) (codified at 31 U.S.C. §§ 5301, 5361–67). It also authorizes the Federal Reserve System to create regulations that prohibit financial transaction providers (banks, credit card companies, etc.) from accepting those payments. See 31 U.S.C. § 5363(4). This Act, along with threats of prosecution under the Wire Act from the Department of Justice, has caused several Internet gambling businesses to withdraw from the U.S. market.

In response, House Representatives introduced multiple bills in 2007 to soften federal Internet gambling law. If passed, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act and the Internet Gambling Regulation and Tax Enforcement Act would license, regulate, and tax Internet gambling businesses rather than prohibit them from taking bets from the United States. Alternatively, the Skill Game Protection Act would clarify the Wire Act to exempt certain games such as poker and chess.

State Regulation

In addition to federal measures, some states have enacted legislation to prohibit some types of Internet gambling. In 2006, Washington State amended its Code to make knowingly transmitting or receiving gambling information over the Internet a felony. See Wash. Rev. Code § 9.46.240 (2006). Other states with similar prohibitions have made it a misdemeanor instead. See e.g., 720 ILCS 5/28-1 (2007).

States have not been particularly active in enforcing these laws, possibly due to a conflict with the dormant Commerce Clause doctrine. That doctrine theorizes that state law applying to commerce outside the state’s borders is unconstitutional because that power lies with federal, not state, government. In particular, federal preemption has obstructed states’ attempts to regulate gambling activity on Indian reservations within state borders. See Missouri ex rel. Nixon v. Coeur D’Alene Tribe, 164 F.3d 1102 (8th Cir. 1999). The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, 25 U.S.C. § 29 (2000), governs gambling activity on Indian reservations, but the extent to which it and other federal gambling laws preempt state action in the Internet arena is uncertain.

menu of sources

Federal Material

U.S. Constitution and Federal Statutes

• U.S. Code: Title 15, Chapter 24: Transportation of Gambling Devices
• U.S. Code: Title 15, Chapter 57, Interstate Horseracing
• U.S. Code: Title 18, Chapter 50: Gambling
• U.S. Code: Title 18, Chapter 61: Lotteries
• 18 U.S.C. §1953 (Interstate Transportation of Wagering Paraphernalia Act)
• 18 U.S.C. §1955 (Illegal Gambling Business Act of 1970)
• 25 U.S.C. §§2701-2721 (Indian Gaming Regulatory Act)
• U.S. Code: Title 28, Chapter 178: Professional and Amateur Sports Protection
• Code of Federal Regulations: Title 25, Chapter 3: National Indian Gaming Commission, Department of the Interior
• Proposed Internet Gambling Prohibition Act of 1997 (not passed)

Federal Judicial Decisions

• Greater New Orleans Broadcasting Association, Inc. v. United States, 527 U.S. 173 (1999)
• Ratzlaf v. United States, 510 U.S. 135 (1994)
• Chickasaw Nation v. United States, 534 U.S. 84 (1999)

State Material

Missouri Gaming Laws

Other References

• '14 Charged in Internet Betting' (Washington Post, March 5, 1998)

Is Gambling Illegal In Missouri

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