At least $11,579,424 -- Includes money spent on one ballot measure and contributions to state and local officials 1992-94

June 9, 1997

With lotteries, bingo, pari-mutuel betting, and riverboat casinos operating under local jurisdiction on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, Missouri has gone for gambling whole hog. Riverboat gambling became legal in November 1994 when voters approved Amendment 6 to the state constitution. That same year the Kansas City Star started digging into gambling dirt and soon found that two casino companies had promised $22 million -- including part ownership in one of the casinos -- to a group of unregistered lobbyists, all closely aligned with former Speaker of the Senate Bob Griffin, payable only when the casinos were licensed and open. As a result of this reporting, all the deals fell through and the speaker was forced to resign; the participants are now awaiting a jury's decision on charges of bribery, racketeering, and fraud.

In the first 10 months of this fiscal year, riverboat gambling has brought in $528 million, despite Missouri's unique "loss limit" that keeps gamblers from blowing more than $500 per cruise. Even though none of the state's riverboats actually cruise anymore, they maintain "phantom cruise" schedules which keep gamblers on board for up to three hours. The casinos desperately want to repeal the loss limit, but last year's attempt died in the legislature.

Records of campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures in the Show-Me State are available at the Missouri Ethics Commission Office for 10 cents per copied page, or via U.S. Mail with the postage charges tacked on. The Working Group on Electoral Democracy, a public interest group in St. Louis, has already crunched some numbers on the Amendment 6 campaign and found that gambling heavyweights pumped more than $11 million into a campaign supporting a ballot measure:

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