Despite troubles in Illinois, gambling company pouring money into Missouri campaigns
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JEFFERSON CITY — One of the nation’s largest video gambling companies is pumping contributions into the campaign accounts of Missouri politicians at the same time it faces a $5 million penalty from regulators in Illinois.
Accel Entertainment contributed $15,000 to the House Republican Campaign Committee on Aug. 24 and has doled out tens of thousands more to other Republican and Democratic officeholders.
Among those receiving checks were Republican Reps. Nick Schroer of St. Charles County and Bruce DeGroot of Chesterfield.
In addition, a political action committee controlled by the company’s chief Missouri lobbyist, former Missouri Senate President Tom Dempsey of St. Charles, received $28,000 last year, which was then funneled to a number of lawmakers and their PACs.
Among them were Senate Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, who each received $2,500.
The donations come as lawmakers have been debating a significant expansion of gambling in the state, including legalized sports betting and video gambling at truck stops, convenience stores and other businesses.
Those talks have hit a wall amid pushback by a different company, Torch Electronics, which has faced court action in connection with its operation of thousands of unregulated slot machines at gas stations across the state.
Like Accel, Torch also has spent big bucks on lobbyists and campaign contributions, including more than $20,000 to a PAC formed to help Gov. Mike Parson.
Other Illinois-based video gambling operators also have been spending money on Missouri politicians. Gold Rush Amusements contributed $10,000 to Parson’s PAC in 2018, as well as $10,000 to the House GOP PAC.
In the case of Accel, the Illinois Gaming Board last year fined the firm $5 million in connection with an agreement it signed with DraftKings in September 2020.
Regulators allege the pact violated a law forbidding incentives to keep Accel machines in the various video gambling establishments that have mushroomed in Illinois since video gambling was legalized more than a decade ago.
The complaint by the Illinois Gaming Board includes comments by Accel officials describing the benefits of the allegedly prohibited agreement with DraftKings, which runs a sports betting platform.
“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,” the company said in a November 2020 earnings call.
Accel, which lists a Bolingbrook, Illinois, address on its campaign contributions, is fighting the fine.
“The case is is pending before an administrative law judge and the IGB does not comment on pending litigation,” board spokesman Joe Miller told the Post-Dispatch.
The company did not respond to multiple requests for information.
Accel’s legal strategy is similar to Torch and other gambling-related companies.
In July, Torch Electronics sued Greene County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson in an attempt to stop an investigative subpoena into its operations.
It was the second attempt by Torch to head off law enforcement scrutiny by suing. Torch in February sued the Missouri State Highway Patrol in Cole County Circuit Court, asking the court to stop state troopers from seizing its machines as part of a statewide gaming crackdown. Warrenton Oil, which offers Torch games at its gas stations, also joined the lawsuit.
Torch argues its machines aren’t illegal gambling devices. Even so, the company faces felony illegal gambling charges in northern Missouri’s Linn County, and the Highway Patrol has deemed illegal machines such as Torch’s that are being placed in gas stations, restaurants and truck stops.
Torch’s lawsuit attempts to quash an investigative subpoena issued June 14 that seeks to “compel the production of a wide range of documents ... including third-party contracts/agreements, financial records and technical information,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also said the subpoena “lacks appropriate limitation” and would force the company to turn over “privileged information.”
The company argues its machines are legal “amusement devices.”
Torch and Warrenton Oil Company also are spending large amounts of money on campaign contributions.
The two companies last month contributed more than $275,000 to political action committees associated with one of the company’s lobbyists, former House Speaker Steve Tilley, according to Missouri Ethics Commission records.
In April, Senate President Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, bemoaned the work of Tilley to shut down debate on his proposal to legalize video gambling.
He said the main obstacle to getting his bill passed was the desire to tie his bill to an expansion of gambling. He also 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.
