Missouri casino gambling limits soon to be dropped

Missouri was the only state which placed limit to the amount you can gamble at the casinos.

On Tuesday, with a very close margin (17-16) an initial approval was given by the state Senate for a bill which would remove the limits. According to a previous legislation, casino patrons were allowed to gamble only up to $500 in any given 2 hours period, but competition from the Kansas casinos sparked an outcry from the Missouri gambling industry to remove the limits because they were loosing customers to the out-of-state casinos. The tax money lost to Kansas casinos are estimated at around $40 million per year.

The bill to remove the limit on how much you can gamble met a strong opposition, part of which backed down after a modification which added 4.5% to the taxes on the casino revenue. The additional gambling tax will be used for college scholarships for students who qualify and the exact amount of those scholarships would depend on the actual amount collected and the number of approved applications.

The new bill is also limiting the casino licenses to 16 and three more casino boats.

Opponents of the proposed casino legislations agree to the current text of the bill in hopes that the new tax is way too high for the bill to pass.

The bill still needs to pass a second vote at the state Senate.

04/26/2007