Industry Resources

Missouri Gaming Loss Limit

Missouri’s $500 loss limit was originally designed to protect people who otherwise might lose more money than they can afford. However, in its 2002 annual report, the Missouri Gaming Commission wrote that…“the loss limit made Missouri riverboat casinos less attractive to patrons and had the effect of driving Missouri residents to gaming facilities in neighboring jurisdictions… To date, no one has presented any evidence that the loss limit deters people from becoming problem gamblers.”

The loss limit is the most frequent source of complaints from the public, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission’s 1999 annual report. “It is clear that a large portion of riverboat gaming customers view the loss limit as intrusive, patronizing, frustrating, confusing, and inconvenient,” the commission wrote. “…The data clearly shows that the loss limit reduces customer counts and revenues for Missouri operators. The inconvenience of the loss limit results in the export of Missouri gaming customers to other states and the loss of potential gaming revenue from local gamers and tourists.” Because of the loss limit, Missouri is losing far too many customers to casinos in bordering states. For example, Missourians spend an estimated $93 million per year on Illinois boats within the St. Louis area alone, resulting in the exporting of $27 million in state and local taxes per year.

Iowa repealed its loss limit in 1994 and the elimination of the loss limit did not increase the reported incidences of problem gambling. In fact, the former director of Iowa’s treatment program for problem gamblers told a Missouri legislative panel that Iowa’s loss limit rule was difficult to enforce and “simply did not deter the problem gambler.”

According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, Missouri can best address the needs of problem gamblers by continuing to support and expand education and treatment programs for them. Through participation in the Missouri Alliance to Curb Problem Gambling, Missouri casinos are part of an unprecedented partnership between private and public institutions with the common goal of increasing understanding and awareness of problem gambling.

Official statistical reports from the state of Missouri for 2005 found that the actual loss-per-patron was $62.22. These numbers are tracked and audited on a monthly basis by the Missouri Gaming Commission. Every patron must have a player’s card that tracks compliance with the $500 loss limit and measures the amount of chips and tokens that are purchased. From these records, the Missouri casinos can demonstrate that less than two percent of casino patrons ever approach their $500 loss limit.

Missouri residents receive free treatment for gambling problems from state trained and certified counselors in private practice. The 2005 reports from the Missouri Department of Mental Health indicate that 363 problem gamblers were in treatment with private counselors paid for by state funds. More than 100 counselors have been trained and certified to provide such help without regard to an individual’s income. Additionally, approximately 9,000 patrons voluntarily excluded themselves from Missouri’s riverboats as part of their self-help effort to stop excessive gaming. (To provide context in reporting these figures, nearly 25 million patrons visited Missouri’s eleven casinos in 2005).

In early 2005, the Oversight Division of the Committee on Legislative Research, the entity charged with providing official fiscal impacts for the Missouri General Assembly, has estimated that removing the $500 loss limit would generate $56.5 million in additional tax revenues for education in Missouri.

Currently, when a customer arrives at the casino, the patron must obtain a boarding card, which monitors the loss limit. To obtain the boarding card, the patron must have a government issued photo ID. For most people that is a driver’s license. Many people are denied entry because they lack identification. Most often this occurs because a spouse has left her purse or wallet at home because they were not driving to the casino. Frequently, denied entry occurs because an older person has stopped driving and no longer has a need for a driver’s license. And, countless individuals who do possess an ID do not want to divulge their personal information.

Following entry to the casino, the hassle of the $500 loss limit occurs each time a customer buys-in at a table game – gambling stops while the loss limit controls are initiated (swiping the boarding card to check the $500 loss limit status). Likewise, at slot machines gambling is often interrupted due to loss limit controls.

Because use of the boarding card is required to gamble, a record of each patron’s buy-in history is recorded and maintained in the gaming computer system. Such records are subject to subpoena in legal proceedings, which further invade customer’s privacy and deter them from visiting Missouri casinos. These hassle factors combine to reduce gaming revenue and drive customers to more friendly and convenient gaming markets.

The casino industry cooperates with the Missouri Department of Mental Health and other members of the Alliance to Curb Problem Gambling to assist problem gamblers. The casinos’ role in the Alliance is funding of a statewide toll-free telephone crisis line and referral service: 1-888-BETSOFF. While the help-line is staffed by mental health professionals, the phone line is widely publicized by the casino industry. It is the help line that leads the problem gambler to the self-banning program as well as free mental health treatment.

Bottom line: Keeping the loss limit will not help the problem gambler. According to the Missouri Gaming Commission’s 2005 Annual Report, “For the past ten years…the data unequivocally shows the loss limit renders Missouri casinos less competitive than casinos in neighboring jurisdictions.” Removing the loss limit will increase state revenues, especially for education.