Last year, the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) fined Accel Entertainment, one of the nation’s largest video gambling companies, $5 million regarding a September 2020 agreement with DraftKings. Regulators allege the deal violated a law prohibiting the offering of incentives to install Accel machines in video gambling establishments.
The IGB complaint includes comments made by Accel officials in a November 2020 earnings call describing the benefits of the allegedly prohibited agreement: “This partnership will help us retain and extend agreements with existing locations, attract new organic and competitor locations and most importantly drive additional players to our locations.”
Bolingbrook, Illinois-based Accel is fighting the fine. The case is pending before an administrative law judge.
But the heavy fine has not deterred Missouri politicians from accepting campaign contributions from Accel. The company contributed $15,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committee on August 24, and has given tens of thousands more to other officeholders, both Republicans and Democrats.
In addition, last year Accel gave $28,000 to a political action committee controlled by the company’s chief Missouri lobbyist, former Missouri Senate President Tom Dempsey. The PAC then funneled the money to several lawmakers and their political action committees.
Meanwhile, Missouri legislators have been debating expanded gambling, including legalizing sports betting and allowing video gambling machines at truck stops, convenience stores and other businesses. But progress has been stopped since another video gambling machine company, Missouri-based Torch Electronics, filed suit against Greene County, Missouri Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson in an attempt to stop an investigation into its operations. The company has placed hundreds of unregulated, untaxed video gambling machines throughout the state. Torch claims its machines are legal “amusement devices.”
The Greene County suit was Torch’s second attempt to stop law enforcement scrutiny by filing a lawsuit. In February, Torch sued the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Cole County Circuit Court, to try to stop state troopers from seizing its machines as part of a statewide crackdown on gambling machines the Highway Patrol considers illegal. Also joining the lawsuit is Warrenton Oil, which offers Torch games at its gas stations. The company also faces felony illegal gambling charges in Linn County.
Like Accel, Torch is spending large amounts of money on campaign contributions to Missouri politicians. Torch gave more than $20,000 to a PAC formed to help Missouri Governor Mike Parson. And in July, Torch and Warrenton Oil contributed more than $275,000 to political action committees associated with a Torch lobbyist, former House Speaker Steve Tilley, according to Missouri Ethics Commission records.
Senate President Dave Schatz has criticized Tilley’s efforts to stop debate on Schatz’s proposal to legalize video gambling and thereby collect taxes on revenue. Schatz said the unregulated game operators’ lobbyists were “a very powerful force” in the Capitol. “They can afford a very heavy lobbying effort in this building on this issue,” Schatz said.
