LOOK OUT, MISSOURI SPORTS FANS: LAW FORBIDS WAGERING ON GAMES

Missourians considering bets on sporting events had best take a look at Section 572.020 of the state's revised statues.

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle points out that "to make a bet on sporting events constitutes the crime of gambling" in Missouri.

The misdemeanor offense could result in up to 15 days in jail and/or a fine of $300.

The offense by a person conducting sports wagering is stiffer - a Class D felony.

Some Missourian haves been placing toll-free telephones calls to place bets with a sports wagering company in the Dominican Republican.

Executive Sports Book International, which describes itself as a "legal sports wagering company for the serious player," recently submitted an ad to the Southeast Missourian newspaper, which would solicit bets on sporting events.

The Missourian refused the ad.

"We have a license from Puento Plata, Dominican Republic government to conduct legal sports wagering in the U.S. and Dominican Republic," said a spokesman from the company Thursday.

"I don't know about the legal aspects of it by each state, but we do have some customers in Missouri...and Illinois."

Sports wagering may be legal in some states. But intra-state wire communications facilities may not be used for placing bets from a state where betting is illegal to a state or country where it is legal.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Larry Ferrell cited a federal statue, Code 80, Section 1084, that prohibits anyone engaged in the business of sports betting from using interstate wire communications, except when both states or countries permit legal sports betting.

Sports wagering in general is illegal in Missouri, although the state has legal lottery, bingo and casino gambling.

Sports wager violations also apply to World Series, NCAA basketball tournament and Super Bowl pools.

A person commits the crime of gambling, said Swingle, if he or she wagers stakes or risks anything of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance.

Another "games of chance issue" emerged in 1994 when the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the constitution had to be changed before games of chance such as slot machines could become legal on riverboats on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

Only games of skill, such as blackjack, craps and poker, were allowed on the state's gambling riverboat operations until voters returned to the polls to approve slot machines for casino operations in the state.