Mo. Rev. Stat. » Chapter 313
Missouri Revised Statutes

Mo. Rev. Stat. § 313.800 (2026)

Definitions

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  313.800.  Definitions — additional games of skill, commission approval, procedures. — 1.  As used in sections 313.800 to 313.850, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the following terms mean:

  (1)  "Adjusted gross receipts", the gross receipts from licensed gambling games and devices less winnings paid to wagerers;

  (2)  "Applicant", any person applying for a license authorized under the provisions of sections 313.800 to 313.850;

  (3)  "Bank", the elevations of ground which confine the waters of the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers at the ordinary high water mark as defined by common law;

  (4)  "Capital, cultural, and special law enforcement purpose expenditures" shall include any disbursement, including disbursements for principal, interest, and costs of issuance and trustee administration related to any indebtedness, for the acquisition of land, land improvements, buildings and building improvements, vehicles, machinery, equipment, works of art, intersections, signing, signalization, parking lot, bus stop, station, garage, terminal, hanger, shelter, dock, wharf, rest area, river port, airport, light rail, railroad, other mass transit, pedestrian shopping malls and plazas, parks, lawns, trees, and other landscape, convention center, roads, traffic control devices, sidewalks, alleys, ramps, tunnels, overpasses and underpasses, utilities, streetscape, lighting, trash receptacles, marquees, paintings, murals, fountains, sculptures, water and sewer systems, dams, drainage systems, creek bank restoration, any asset with a useful life greater than one year, cultural events, and any expenditure related to a law enforcement officer deployed as horse-mounted patrol, school resource or drug awareness resistance education (D.A.R.E) officer;

  (5)  "Cheat", to alter the selection of criteria which determine the result of a gambling game or the amount or frequency of payment in a gambling game;

  (6)  "Commission", the Missouri gaming commission;

  (7)  "Credit instrument", a written check, negotiable instrument, automatic bank draft or other authorization from a qualified person to an excursion gambling boat licensee or any of its affiliated companies licensed by the commission authorizing the licensee to withdraw the amount of credit extended by the licensee to such person from the qualified person's banking account in an amount determined under section 313.817 on or after a date certain of not more than thirty days from the date the credit was extended, and includes any such writing taken in consolidation, redemption or payment of a previous credit instrument, but does not include any interest-bearing installment loan or other extension of credit secured by collateral;

  (8)  "Dock", the location in a city or county authorized under subsection 10 of section 313.812 which contains any natural or artificial space, inlet, hollow, or basin, in or adjacent to a bank of the Mississippi or Missouri Rivers, next to a wharf or landing devoted to the embarking of passengers on and disembarking of passengers from a gambling excursion but shall not include any artificial space created after May 20, 1994, and is located more than one thousand feet from the closest edge of the main channel of the river as established by the United States Army Corps of Engineers;

  (9)  "Excursion gambling boat", a boat, ferry, other floating facility, or any nonfloating facility licensed by the commission on or inside of which gambling games are allowed;

  (10)  "Fiscal year", the fiscal year of a home dock city or county;

  (11)  "Floating facility", any facility built or originally built as a boat, ferry or barge licensed by the commission on which gambling games are allowed;

  (12)  "Gambling excursion", the time during which gambling games may be operated on an excursion gambling boat whether docked or during a cruise;

  (13)  "Gambling game" includes, but is not limited to, games of skill or games of chance on an excursion gambling boat but does not include gambling on sporting events; provided such games of chance are approved by amendment to the Missouri Constitution;

  (14)  "Games of chance", any gambling game in which the player's expected return is not favorably increased by the player's reason, foresight, dexterity, sagacity, design, information or strategy;

  (15)  "Games of skill", any gambling game in which there is an opportunity for the player to use the player's reason, foresight, dexterity, sagacity, design, information or strategy to favorably increase the player's expected return; including, but not limited to, the gambling games known as "poker", "blackjack" (twenty-one), "craps", "Caribbean stud", "pai gow poker", "Texas hold'em", "double down stud", and any video representation of such games;

  (16)  "Gross receipts", the total sums wagered by patrons of licensed gambling games;

  (17)  "Holder of occupational license", a person licensed by the commission to perform an occupation within excursion gambling boat operations which the commission has identified as requiring a license;

  (18)  "Licensee", any person licensed under sections 313.800 to 313.850;

  (19)  "Mississippi River" and "Missouri River", the water, bed and banks of those rivers, including any space filled wholly or partially by the water of those rivers in a manner approved by the commission but shall not include any artificial space created after May 20, 1994, and is located more than one thousand feet from the closest edge of the main channel of the river as established by the United States Army Corps of Engineers;

  (20)  "Nonfloating facility", any structure within one thousand feet from the closest edge of the main channel of the Missouri or Mississippi River, as established by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, that contains at least two thousand gallons of water beneath or inside the facility either by an enclosed space containing such water or in rigid or semirigid storage containers, tanks, or structures;

  (21)  "Supplier", a person who sells or leases gambling equipment and gambling supplies to any licensee.

  2.  (1)  In addition to the games of skill defined in this section, the commission may approve other games of skill upon receiving a petition requesting approval of a gambling game from any applicant or licensee.  The commission may set the matter for hearing by serving the applicant or licensee with written notice of the time and place of the hearing not less than five days prior to the date of the hearing and posting a public notice at each commission office.  The commission shall require the applicant or licensee to pay the cost of placing a notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the applicant's or licensee's home dock city or county.  The burden of proof that the gambling game is a game of skill is at all times on the petitioner.  The petitioner shall have the affirmative responsibility of establishing the petitioner's case by a preponderance of evidence including:

  (a)  Is it in the best interest of gaming to allow the game; and

  (b)  Is the gambling game a game of chance or a game of skill?

  (2)  All testimony shall be given under oath or affirmation.  Any citizen of this state shall have the opportunity to testify on the merits of the petition.  The commission may subpoena witnesses to offer expert testimony.  Upon conclusion of the hearing, the commission shall evaluate the record of the hearing and issue written findings of fact that shall be based exclusively on the evidence and on matters officially noticed.  The commission shall then render a written decision on the merits which shall contain findings of fact, conclusions of law and a final commission order.  The final commission order shall be within thirty days of the hearing.  Copies of the final commission order shall be served on the petitioner by certified or overnight express mail, postage prepaid, or by personal delivery.

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(L. 1991 H.B. 149 § 1 Adopted by Referendum, Proposition A, November 3, 1992, A.L. 1993 S.B. 10 & 11 § 1, A.L. 1994 S.B. 740, A.L. 2005 H.B. 58 merged with H.B. 186 merged with S.B. 272, A.L. 2014 S.B. 741, A.L. 2016 S.B. 833, A.L. 2021 S.B. 26, A.L. 2022 H.B. 2400 merged with S.B. 987)

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 10 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1994–2024 · leading case: Pen-Yan Inv., Inc. v. Boyd Kansas City, Inc., 952 S.W.2d 299 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997).
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Pen-Yan Inv., Inc. v. Boyd Kansas City, Inc., 952 S.W.2d 299 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997). · cites it 11× “010(4) specifically excludes activities licensed by the Commission under §§ 313.800 to 313.840. Thus, what would otherwise be criminal activity is rendered lawful by the granting of a gaming license by the Commission.”
Winfrey v. State, 242 S.W.3d 723 (Mo. 2008). · cites it 6× “(5) Manufactures, sells, or distributes any cards, chips, dice, game or device which is intended to be used to violate any provision of sections 313.800 to 313.850; (6) Instructs a person in cheating or in the use of a device for that purpose with the knowledge or intent that…”
Teague v. Missouri Gaming Comm'n, 127 S.W.3d 679 (Mo. Ct. App. 2004). · cites it 4× “[T]he following acts or omissions may be grounds for such discipline: (7) Use of fraud, deception, misrepresentation or bribery in securing any permit or license issued pursuant to sections 313.800 to 313.850; The regulation, 11 CSR 45-4.”
State v. Rousseau, 34 S.W.3d 254 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000). · cites it 3× “The proposition was entitled “AN ACT to repeal sections 572.010 and 572 .100, RSMo 1986, relating to certain gaming activities, and to enact in lieu thereof twenty-three new sections relating to the same subject, with penalty provisions and a referendum clause.”
Termini v. Missouri Gaming Comm'n, 921 S.W.2d 159 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996). · cites it 6× “Section 313.800 is a definitional section applicable to excursion gambling boats.”
Harris v. Missouri Gaming Comm'n, 869 S.W.2d 58 (Mo. 1994). · cites it 2× “§ 313.800(8). On April 80, 1993 — one day after the Governor approved the Act — Troy Hams, plaintiff, filed a first amended petition for declaratory judgment that the Act was unconstitutional in violation of the Missouri Constitution, Article III, §§ 39(9), 40(28), and 40(30).”
State v. Becker, 938 S.W.2d 267 (Mo. 1997). · cites it 2× “It provides: If the commission determines that reasonable grounds to believe that a violation of sections 313.800 to 313.850 has occurred or is occurring which is a criminal offense, the commission shall refer such matter to both the state attorney general and the prosecuting…”
Grace v. Missouri Gaming Comm'n, 51 S.W.3d 891 (Mo. Ct. App. 2001). “Without limiting other provisions of this subsection, the following acts or omissions may be grounds for such discipline: [[Image here]] (9) Incompetence, misconduct, gross negligence, fraud, misrepresentation or dishonesty in the performance of the functions or duties regulated…”
Missouri Gaming Comm'n v. Missouri Vets.' Comm'n, 951 S.W.2d 611 (Mo. 1997). “1, RSMo 1994, provides: All revenue received by the [gaming] commission from license fees, penalties, administrative fees, reimbursement by any excursion gambling boat operators for services provided by the commission and admission fees authorized under the provisions of…”
City of St. Louis v. State of Missouri, 682 S.W.3d 387 (Mo. 2024). · cites it 3× “220); the definition and regulation of gambling boats (sections 313.800, 313.805, and 313.812); surveillance cameras on private property (section 542.”
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 313.800(4): 2 cases
State v. Rousseau, 34 S.W.3d 254 (Mo. Ct. App. 2000). “The proposition was entitled “AN ACT to repeal sections 572.010 and 572 .100, RSMo 1986, relating to certain gaming activities, and to enact in lieu thereof twenty-three new sections relating to the same subject, with penalty provisions and a referendum clause.”
Pen-Yan Inv., Inc. v. Boyd Kansas City, Inc., 952 S.W.2d 299 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997). “010(4) specifically excludes activities licensed by the Commission under §§ 313.800 to 313.840. Thus, what would otherwise be criminal activity is rendered lawful by the granting of a gaming license by the Commission.”
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 313.800(7): 1 case
Pen-Yan Inv., Inc. v. Boyd Kansas City, Inc., 952 S.W.2d 299 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997). “010(4) specifically excludes activities licensed by the Commission under §§ 313.800 to 313.840. Thus, what would otherwise be criminal activity is rendered lawful by the granting of a gaming license by the Commission.”
Mo. Rev. Stat. § 313.800(8): 1 case
Harris v. Missouri Gaming Comm'n, 869 S.W.2d 58 (Mo. 1994). “§ 313.800(8). On April 80, 1993 — one day after the Governor approved the Act — Troy Hams, plaintiff, filed a first amended petition for declaratory judgment that the Act was unconstitutional in violation of the Missouri Constitution, Article III, §§ 39(9), 40(28), and 40(30).”
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