Hearing set in gaming machine lawsuit challenging state’s authority

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

A hearing is scheduled Wednesday in a group of business owners' challenge to Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway's seizure of video gambling machines and prosecutions of convenience store proprietors.

Missouri Licensing Advocacy Group argues that the state cannot make a blanket definition of what makes a gaming machine illegal, and that the state's Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control does not have the jurisdiction to police gaming machines.

The suit was filed at the end of June, with the group asking the judge for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to pause seizures of machines until a definition of gambling machines is determined.

"If the State’s position is that every machine with an electronic screen, customer payment, amusement value, and possible prize is automatically an illegal gambling device, then the State’s theory sweeps far beyond the machines now being targeted," according to the lawsuit.

The suit follows a sweep of lawsuits filed by the Attorney General's office in February and March.

“Businesses that allow illegal gambling to operate under their roofs are making a deliberate choice to put profit over public safety,” Hanaway said in March. “My Office is committed to dismantling illegal gaming operations, ensuring they have no place in our communities. We will enforce the law and protect our neighborhoods in every county.”

At least two Mid-Missouri convenience store owners -- Anthony Gier of Eldon and Keith Winscott of Ashland -- have been charged criminally after video gambling machines were seized from their stores.

This is an ongoing story.