GAMBLING REPORT LEANS HEAVILY TO CASINOS

A report by the Missouri Legislature's Oversight Division on the performance of the Missouri Gaming Commission makes one wonder if the gambling industry itself didn't have a hand in the report.

The report was so slanted to favor the gambling industry that a subcommittee of the Joint Committee on Legislative Research unanimously rejected it and voted to keep the report secret. Some lawmakers said the report should be burned, and one -- Sen. Harold Caskey, D-Butler -- even offered a match.

The report, which was ordered a year ago, suggested that state gambling regulators could operate more efficiently. It suggested doing away with cars and uniform allowances for Highway Patrol officers stationed on gambling riverboats and said civilian workers could handle most of the enforcement duties now overseen by the patrol.

All of that, of course, would save casinos money, because they are billed for the state's enforcement costs as required by law. The casino companies that operate in Missouri knew that would be the case from the beginning, yet they have complained repeatedly about the cost of doing business in Missouri, and a tremendous business they do.

Casinos pay a 20 percent gross receipts tax and a $2-per-person admission fee, of which $1 goes to the local government and $1 to the state. They also pay the state's $5.9 million annual cost for enforcement, most of which covers the salaries and expenses of Highway Patrol officers assigned to the boats. The casinos want enforcement to be paid from admission fees instead, and they have filed a lawsuit alleging they are being billed twice for the same expenses.

The oversight report said the state's share of the admission fee far exceeds the cost of operating the Gaming Commission, and it doesn't appear additional billings are necessary to cover enforcement on the boats.

That rightfully ticked off lawmakers because admission fees are not dedicated solely to administrative costs. Those fees also finance preschools, veterans homes and college scholarships, among other things.

The report said the Gaming Commission spends more on operating and enforcement costs than other states, as a percentage of the casinos' adjusted gross receipts. But it also said Missouri's higher cost can be partly explained by the state's loss limit, which lowers casinos' gross receipts by limiting patrons to losing $500 in each two-hour gambling session. That limit also increases enforcement costs, the report said.

Although the subcommittee chairman, state Rep. Robert Clayton, D-Hannibal, refused to release the study, saying it was not public record because it was rejected, state Sen. Franc Flotron, R-Chesterfield, did make it public. It is a good thing he did, because Missourians need to know how slanted the report really was.

A state oversight committee report that takes a year to prepare and doesn't look out for the state's interests any more than this one did is a total waste of time and money. Gambling interests knew the costs of operations in Missouri up front, and if they thought the costs were too high they shouldn't have bothered to come to Missouri. Instead, they are trying to change the rules in midstream.

And this oversight committee report tried to do everything it could to help them.