In attempt to squelch illegal gambling, highway patrol finds slot machines at Missouri gas station
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JEFFERSON CITY — A state police investigator found actual, casino-style slot machines at a southwestern Missouri gas station during an investigation into the tens of thousands of unregulated gambling devices that have flooded the state.
In March, records show Sgt. Jason Trammell of the Missouri State Highway Patrol found seven of the machines at the Main Stop Convenience Store in Neosho and, following an investigation, turned over evidence of a possible crime to the Newton County prosecuting attorney.
The owner of the machines, Arkansas-based Jasminder “Jesse” Singh, said he’s unaware of any charges pending against him.
“I’m not sure what happened to that. They are still figuring it out I guess,” Singh told the Post-Dispatch in a brief interview Wednesday.
The discovery of actual slot machines in gas stations, convenience stores and other places not licensed for gambling shows how the illegal gaming industry has become “brazen” in its approach to flouting state anti-gambling laws, Missouri Lottery Director May Scheve-Reardon told the Post-Dispatch in an earlier interview.
And, the findings chip away at claims by some of the companies that the machines that have become almost ubiquitous at convenience stores are not gambling devices because they have a so-called pre-reveal feature that lets people know if they are going to win before they insert more cash into the machine.
The investigation of the Main Stop Convenience Store in Neosho by investigators in Gov. Mike Parson’s administration came as state lawmakers continued to fumble in their efforts to approve legislation that would address video gambling that has spread throughout the state by companies like Wildwood-based Torch Electronics.
Parson has long been aligned with one of Missouri’s most active political operatives, former House Speaker Steve Tilley, who is now a powerful lobbyist.
Tilley represents Torch Electronics and has employed his team of lobbyists to stymie legislative efforts to impose regulations on the machines.
According to a highway patrol report obtained by the Post-Dispatch, Trammell visited the Neosho store at least three times this spring to determine if the devices were indeed slot machines.
Following the probe, he served a search warrant at the Main Stop to seize six of the machines, which a store clerk said were owned by Arkansas-based PB08 Electronic Ventures LLC.
Trammell later spoke with Singh, the owner of PB08, who claimed that the machines should have been the kind that preview the next play.
“I informed him the machines I took did not have the function activated. Therefore, when cash was paid out on these machines, it made them straight slot machines,” Trammell wrote.
Singh also said the machines should have issued a coupon for use in the convenience store, rather than a ticket to turn in for a cash payment.
“I informed him that cash was being paid out on these machines and that with cash being paid out, the store is operating as a casino,” Trammell wrote.
The report also notes that Singh claimed he had gotten the machines from someone, but had forgotten their name.
“Jasminder claimed that everybody has these machines. I explained to him that his machines were not the same because there was no attempt at a legal gimmick on the machines that even tried to make them legal,” Trammell added.
Singh told the Post-Dispatch that he got the machines as a way to boost store sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, when revenues were falling. He said he hoped people would play the machines and then spend their winnings in the store.
“That was the whole idea,” Singh said.
Newton County Prosecuting Attorney William Lynch did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors in other counties are beginning to file lawsuits against the slot machine operators with mixed results. So far in 2022, charges related to the devices have been filed in Adair, Barry, Christian, Lincoln, Scott and Schuyler counties.
Torch, by contrast, has countersued the Missouri Department of Public Safety, the highway patrol and the Missouri Gaming Association, which represents the state’s legal casinos, seeking an injunction barring officials from removing their machines from stores.
