Nov 05, 2019  There have been no efforts to legalize online poker or casino games in Missouri, and it is an unlikely proposition in the coming years. Live Poker: All of the Missouri casinos have poker rooms offering cash games, and some offer tournaments as well. Riverboat Casinos in Missouri The casinos in Missouri are all located on riverboats and there are no Indian casinos in Missouri. In November, 1992 Missouri voters approved a state-wide referendum to allow riverboat gambling. That made Missouri the fifth state to approve this form of gambling.

Missouri gambling laws allow for riverboat casinos, social gaming, and a variety of charitable gambling enterprises. At the same time, the state does not allow brick-and-mortar casinos, sportsbooks, or online gambling. While Missouri has a long and colorful history of gambling, it has strict laws perhaps influenced by that same colorful history.

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To start with, Missouri has a number of idiosyncratic gambling laws. For instance, professional players caught gambling illegally are given heftier fines and sentences than amateurs. Also, anyone who aids an illegal gambling operation in any way might be charge as a gaming operator themselves. In this article, we discuss the various legal and bans forms of gambling in Missouri, while providing a list of the state’s gaming venues.

Best Missouri Online Casinos, Sportsbooks & Poker Sites 2020

Laws That Pertain to Missouri Gambling

Section 572.010(4)

A person engages in “gambling” when he stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that he will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.

The “Material Degree Test” is the rubric for whether a “contest of chance” is considered gambling or not. Even if a contest has a degree of skill (like poker), it is considered a game of chance if skill cannot overcome the degree of chance. Thus, case law requires prosecutors to show a material degree of chance in the game to determine if gambling has occurred.

Missouri has strict laws against gamblers and gambling operators. Operators are punished to a higher degree than players. In fact, Missouri is somewhat quirky in that it distinguishes between professional players and amateurs. Professionals are punished more than amateurs.

Amateurs caught gambling face a class C misdemeanor offense. Knowingly gambling with a minor is considered a Class B offense. If you’re a professional player caught gambling illegally, it’s a Class D offense, which is punishable by up to four years in jail.

Section 572.010(9)

[The term] “professional player” means a player who engages in gambling for a livelihood or who has derived at least twenty percent of his income in any one year within the past five years from acting solely as a player;

The added punishments for professional gamblers are a legacy of the riverboat gamblers of the 19th century. The Mississippi River was home to riverboats known to host professional card sharps. These people were notorious enough to inspire fictional accounts and tougher gambling laws alike.

Still, it is the illegal gaming operators who receive the full extent of the law. Missouri has an expansive definition of gaming operators, so anyone guilty of “advancing gambling activity” can be charged as an organizer or operator. If you help someone else organize illegal gambling, you might be considered an operator yourself.

Section 572.010(1)

A person “advances gambling activity” if, acting other than as a player, he engages in conduct that materially aids any form of gambling activity. Conduct of this nature includes but is not limited to conduct directed toward the creation or establishment of the particular game, lottery, contest, scheme, device or activity involved, toward the acquisition or maintenance of premises, paraphernalia, equipment or apparatus therefor, toward the solicitation or inducement of persons to participate therein, toward the actual conduct of the playing phases thereof, toward the arrangement or communication of any of its financial or recording phases, or toward any other phase of its operation.
A person advances gambling activity if, having substantial proprietary control or other authoritative control over premises being used with his knowledge for purposes of gambling activity, he permits that activity to occur or continue or makes no effort to prevent its occurrence or continuation.

Is Gambling Legal in the State of Missouri?

A variety of gambling types are legal in the State of Missouri. Riverboat casinos dominate the market. A full slate of lottery betting is available, while pull-tabs and coin boards join bingo gaming among the charitable gaming types. Missouri’s lawmakers have discussed DFS regulations, but not sports betting.

Missouri Gambling Laws

Type of Gambling – Offered/Licensed? – Notes & Restrictions

• Online Gambling – No – Online poker is not on the table. Some poker sites blocked.
• Land-Based Casinos – Yes – Over a dozen riverboat casinos.
• Charitable Gaming – Yes – Bingo, Pull-Tab Games, Merchandise Coin Boards.
• Lottery Betting – Yes – State Lottery (1986), Powerball (1988), Mega Millions (2010).
• Minimum Gambling Age – 18 for lottery. 21 for casinos. 16 for bingo and pull-tab games.

Is Online Poker Legal in Missouri?

Online poker is not legal in Missouri. In fact, a few offshore online poker networks — such as the Merge Network — are blocked by Missouri authorities. Others are not, so Missouri poker players might find their access to certain unlicensed offshore online poker sites restricted. Those players might search for alternative iPoker sites.

Online poker and online casinos exist in a gray area. While you won’t find legal online poker in Missouri, law enforcement does not have a history of prosecuting those who gamble online. Illegal operators who are active inside Missouri’s boundaries will be prosecuted, if caught.

Is Sports Betting / Daily Fantasy Sports Legal in Missouri?

Sports betting is not legal in Missouri at the moment. The repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in May 2018 opened the door for legal sports betting, but the will does not appear to exist in the Missouri legislature for legal sportsbooks. As long as the Missouri casino industry is confined to riverboats, the room for large sportsbooks does not exist in Missouri’s casinos. Expect to see a land-based casino bill before a sportsbook bill.

The daily fantasy sports niche is another matter. State Rep. Scott Fitzpatrick introduced House Bill 502 in 2017. HB 502 would legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports. The bill remains pending at the moment, though DraftKings and FanDuel continue to operate in an unregulated DFS environment in Missouri at the moment.

Does Missouri have land-based casinos?

Missouri does not have land-based casinos, but it has 13 riverboat casinos which offer most of the popular games land casinos have. Top national gaming companies like Caesars Entertainment and Penn National Gaming own riverboat casinos in Kansas City and St. Louis. The limitation of riverboat casino gambling is in the amenities and attractions, because the riverboats don’t have the capacity for huge hotels, retail areas, convention space, and concert halls.

Indiana and Louisiana have initiatives to move riverboat casinos onto dry land so the operators can build 21st century integrated casino-resorts. Missouri’s lawmakers have not discussed doing so, but as other states along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers do so, residents can expect to see Missouri follow suit. Missouri’s legislature passed a measure allowing their casinos to offer markers (casino IOUs) to high rollers, because it allowed them to keep pace with other states, so the legislature is responsive to casino owners’ needs.

CASINOS

Does Missouri have any legal betting tracks / shops?

Map Of Casinos In Missouri

No. Missouri does not have legal horse betting tracks or betting shops. Missouri does not have a history of pari-mutuel wagers.

Does Missouri allow off-track betting?

No. The Show-Me State does not have off-track betting venues, either.

Does Missouri allow charitable gambling?

Yes. Several kinds of charitable gaming exist. Charity organizations in the religious, fraternal, veteran, and service categories are allowed to run nonprofit gaming to fund their charitable organizations. Bingo, pull-tab games, merchandise coin boards, and other “free” promotional events are allowed. A few big bingo halls exist in the cities, while pull-tab games are popular across the state.

Tax revenues from charitable gaming go to the Proceeds for Education Fund. Charitable gambling has contributed to Relay for Life, Alzheimer’s care and research, the Kidney Foundation, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Ronald McDonald House, and Boy & Girl Scouts programs. Organizations which support veterans’ funds, drug awareness programs, cancer care and research, and the prevention of child abuse also run Missouri charitable gaming events.

BINGO HALLS

Branson Missouri Casinos

Is Social gaming allowed in Missouri?

Online Casinos For Missouri

Social gaming is allowed in Missouri. Sites like Double Down, Zynga, Slotomania, and Big Fish Games can be access by Missouri residents through Facebook or mobile smartphones. Download the Android or iOS app to play with your mobile device. The MyVegas social gaming site from MGM Resorts is legal, though the PlayMGM real money site is not.