Missouri Charitable Gaming

Bingo was legalized in Missouri in 1980, making it the oldest legalized form of gaming in the state. On 1 July 1994, charitable gaming was added to the Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) for control and regulation. Charitable games include licensed bingo and associated games such as pull-tabs, merchandise coin boards, and other no-charge promotional events. Bingo and any of its variations are prohibited at casinos. Charitable games may only be conducted by qualified licensed religious, charitable, fraternal, veteran and service organizations. No individual member of the organization may benefit from any portion of the organization's net earnings.

In the 2010 legislative session, SB940 was passed. It amended many of the existing charitable bingo game laws. The bill increased the number of times an organization with an abbreviated bingo license could hold bingo games at which only pull-tab cards could be used, from up to four times annually to up to 15 times annually. It raised the license fee to conduct bingo games from $10 annually to $50 annually. It authorized the MGC to set the maximum daily prize amounts for non-progressive bingo games. Before SB940 passed, the aggregate prize value in one day of bingo could not exceed $3,600, the prize for any one game could not exceed $500, and no more than one $500 prize could be awarded on any one day of bingo. SB940 also allowed licensees to conduct bingo games twice a week instead of once a week; increased the amount used for advertising from 2% to up to 10% of the total amount of bingo receipts; and increased the time a bingo game could remain open by four hours by prohibiting bingo games from being conducted between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., changed from between midnight and 10 a.m. In addition, SB940 increased the upper limit of a one-time application fee for a manufacturer's license from $1,000 to $5,000, and the upper limit of a renewal fee from $500 to $1,000.