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Casino Operators in Missouri Use Billboards to Advertise Benefits of Their Industry

The end of the state's fiscal year on June 30 marked six years of riverboat gaming in Missouri. The billboards declare that in that time, the industry has created 11,000 new jobs and paid more than $1 billion in gaming taxes and admission fees to state and local governments.

The casinos, which no longer cruise but are required to float in or near the Mississippi or Missouri rivers, don't charge admission fees to their customers. But they must pay the fees, another form of tax, based on $2 for each person admitted for each two-hour session.

Missouri still has many citizens opposed to casino gaming. Each of the billboards carries a tag line that says "Gaming Benefits Missouri."

Mike Ryan, director of the Missouri Riverboat Gaming Association, said the casinos donated their regular billboard sites for this campaign. That way, he said, the trade organization got better locations than it would have received if it had paid for new billboard space.

Ryan said casino taxes have become the state's sixth largest source of revenue, excluding federal funds. In addition, his group itemized the amount of tax revenue received by the cities that host casinos, over the six years.

Kansas City got the most, $65 million. North Kansas City received $53.7 million. Another suburb, Riverside, received $29.5 million.

St. Louis received $27.4 million. Two St. Louis suburbs, Maryland Heights and St. Charles, received $46.4 million and $44.7 million respectively.

Two small cities, St. Joseph and Caruthersville, received $7.5 million and $6.1 million respectively.

Several major regulatory changes take effect this summer. Missouri, like New Jersey, now prohibits casinos from refusing to deal blackjack to players that the casinos believe are counting cards. To thwart counters, the casinos are permitted to shuffle the decks frequently and to refuse to deal to players who sit out hands and then play again, which counters sometimes do.

Next month, casinos will be allowed to have the bill acceptors on slot machines issue game credits to players. Currently, the bill acceptors are required by state regulation to dispense tokens, which must be fed back into the machine, one at a time.

Also, a new state law makes it a crime for someone under the age of 21 to attempt to enter a casino, or for an adult to help such a person gain admittance. Casinos are fined if a minor is caught on the gaming floor, but before the change in the law, a minor who entered a casino risked no penalty.

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