Responsible Gaming

Casino-Based Responsible Gaming Programs

MGA's casino members have specific programs designed to address responsible gaming issues at their facilities. Missouri casinos recognize that dealing with disordered and underage gambling is not only the right thing to do, it is also good business. All Missouri casino companies have an employee designated as director of responsible gaming programs.

MGA's Responsible Gaming Program is comprised of three components

  • Project 21, addresses underage gambling
  • Operation Bet Smart, focuses on compulsive gambling
  • Alcohol awareness programs to promote responsible consumption of alcohol

Underage Gambling

MGA members are diligent in checking for underage persons who may attempt to enter casinos. It is illegal for persons under the age of 21 to gamble in a Missouri casino. Missouri casinos have a no tolerance policy for minors and have an established protocol for identifying them. MGA members worked with other members of the Alliance to pass a law (Senate Bill 902) in 2001 making it a misdemeanor (Class B for first offense; Class A for the second offense) for the following: presenting false identification in an attempt to enter a casino gaming area; making or attempting to make a wager when such person is under the age of 21; permitting a person under the age of 21 to make a wager; and aiding a person under the age of 21 in entering a casino gaming area or making a wager. In the event that a minor is found within the casino gaming area, the minor is arrested by the Missouri State Highway Patrol and turned over to local police authorities.

Missouri's casinos also support positive intervention programs targeted to youth, such as the Project 21 Scholarship Contest, which is in its 13th year. The goal of Project 21 is to prevent underage gambling. One of the best tools available to help achieve this objective is to not only educate our youth that it is not permissible in Missouri for persons under the age of 21 to gamble in a casino, but to also educate them about the dangers and consequences associated with underage gambling. The Project 21 Scholarship Contest is designed to let Missouri high school seniors create and disseminate their message through an essay, poster or video and provides $7,000 in college scholarships annually.

Operation Bet Smart and Alcohol Awareness Programs

The goals of these components are to create awareness inside and outside of the casinos including the surrounding communities, get employees involved in addressing the issues and provide resources for those who need help.

There are a variety of tools used by MGA member firms to create awareness of responsible gaming issues. Missouri casinos display 1-888-BETSOFF on posters and pamphlets produced by the Missouri Lottery and the American Gaming Association (AGA, a national trade association of the gaming industry), in strategic locations throughout the property. They also display posters communicating key messages in high-traffic customer areas and employee back-of-house areas, including casino entrances, ticket counters, cashier cages, cash access machines, and employee break rooms and time clocks. Additionally, depending on appropriateness, responsible gaming messages are communicated on boarding passes, electronic advertising, newspaper advertising, phone hold messages, hotel television (in-house channel), video wall messaging and promotional offers.

All Missouri casinos participate in innovative self-exclusion programs. A state-mandated program provides a disordered gambler the opportunity to ban themselves from all Missouri casinos (see Missouri Gaming Commission below). Some casinos allow a patron to ban themselves from a specific casino property. All casinos offer patrons the opportunity to self-exclude from check cashing privileges and to ban use of credit cards at the free standing kiosks that are generally recognized by gaming patrons as 'cash advance' machines. These programs allow guests to exclude themselves from obtaining a cash advance through the company's cash devices. Missouri casinos have also developed programs that allow patrons the option to prohibit the gaming company from using identifying information for marketing purposes.