Missouri retailers sue AG over crackdown on gaming machines

Two lawsuits filed in Cole County on June 18 and June 26 challenge Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway’s enforcement campaign against so-called “pre-reveal” or “no-chance” gaming machines. Plaintiffs seek injunctions and declaratory relief to stop criminal probes and licensing pressure while courts decide whether the devices violate state law.

The June 18 complaint was filed by Tuners Bar & Grill of St. Charles. Tuners argues Hanaway is effectively expanding Missouri’s criminal gambling laws through enforcement rather than through legislation. The restaurant says pre-reveal machines display the game outcome before a player decides to proceed, removing the uncertainty that plaintiffs say defines gambling under state statutes. Tuners asks a court to declare the state’s interpretation unconstitutional and to find existing statutes unconstitutionally vague as applied to the devices. Tuners also seeks class-action status to represent other businesses operating similar machines.

The June 26 suit was filed by the Missouri Licensing Advocacy Group, which represents liquor suppliers, convenience stores, bars and other licensed businesses. MOLAG’s complaint targets the use of liquor-license authority by the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control and other officials. The group argues licensing authority does not extend to declaring whether electronic gaming devices violate gambling laws and asks judges to bar officials from using license threats to enforce interpretations not adopted by the legislature.

Both complaints describe harms they say follow immediate enforcement. The Tuners complaint lists “public accusation, possible arrest, search warrants, seizure of machines and cash, forfeiture proceedings, loss of banking relationships, landlord pressure, insurance problems, damage to licenses, termination of retail contracts, and reputational injury that no later judgment can fully repair.” Plaintiffs say those consequences occur before courts have the chance to resolve the legal question.

The enforcement campaign intensified after a federal court ruling in February found devices made by Torch Electronics qualified as illegal gambling devices. The Attorney General’s office warned Torch it faced criminal prosecution if it continued operating in Missouri; Torch suspended Missouri operations in April. The Attorney General’s office has asserted enforcement has reduced the number of unregulated machines from an estimated peak of about 25,000 to roughly 7,000 still operating after actions by state officials.

The Missouri cases come amid a series of different judicial outcomes elsewhere. A Tennessee Chancery Court in July 2025 held that Torch’s “No Chance Games” violated that state’s gambling laws. More recently, a state supreme court ruled that devices marketed as skill machines meet the statutory definition of slot machines under that state’s gaming law and criminal gambling statutes. Plaintiffs in Missouri note the absence of state legislation specifically addressing pre-reveal devices.

The suits ask Cole County judges to block further criminal investigations and licensing threats while the courts determine whether pre-reveal features remove the element of chance or whether the devices meet Missouri’s statutory definition of illegal gambling. Court dates and the names of presiding judges were not included in the filings available at the time of the complaints.