Gas Station Slot Machines Are Reshaping Missouri’s Republican Senate Primaries — and the Money Trail Is Hard to Ignore
A fight over whether Missouri should legalize slot machines in gas stations and convenience stores has moved off the statehouse floor and into three Republican state Senate primaries this August — with gambling industry money flowing heavily to candidates who support expansion and shaping what could be a pivotal legislative year ahead.
Video lottery backers believe a more favorable Senate could be seated after the 2025 elections. Three contested primaries will go a long way toward determining whether that happens — and each race pits a prominent video lottery supporter against at least one candidate who says any gambling expansion must go to voters first.
What’s at Stake
For years, companies like Torch Electronics have operated thousands of slot machine-style games in convenience stores across Missouri, exploiting legal ambiguity and limited prosecutorial interest. Legislation to bring those machines under state regulation — and tax them — has passed the Missouri House twice but stalled in the Senate.
Outgoing state Sen. Lincoln Hough, a Springfield Republican who blocked the bill as Appropriations Committee chair and threatened to filibuster it this year, put the stakes plainly: “If you want gas station casinos, and you want slot machines in every freaking gas station in this state, then the people that are going to support that are the ones that are elected.”
Hough is leaving the Senate due to term limits. Who replaces him and his colleagues will determine whether video lottery legislation finally clears the chamber in 2026.
The 16th District: A Four-Way Fight Along I-44
In south-central Missouri’s 16th District, state Rep. Bill Hardwick of Dixon — the House sponsor of video lottery legislation for the past two sessions — is running against three Republicans who either oppose the measure or insist it go to a public vote.
Hardwick leads the money race by a wide margin. His campaign and aligned PAC, Missouri Enterprise Fund, have raised $306,000 since January 2025, including $190,700 from gambling interests — the fourth-highest total among all Missouri political figures.
Hardwick defends both the policy and the donations. He argues that unregulated machines are already operating statewide, that a budget shortfall is coming as Missouri’s savings are depleted, and that video lottery revenue could fill the gap — particularly if a proposal to eliminate the state income tax advances.
“There is a little bit of disappointment in people who are begging their fellow legislators for appropriations, who are saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got to fund education more,'” Hardwick said. “But I feel like I’m one of the only people who’s offering solutions.”
State Rep. Don Mayhew of Crocker voted for the 2025 version of the bill but turned against this year’s version over a provision allowing existing machines to remain in place during a regulatory transition. He wants the legislature to address unregulated machines first, then put any legalization measure to voters — and he says gambling money is corrupting the process regardless.
“There are too many times I can draw a line from a vote to a campaign contribution, and for me that’s disgusting,” Mayhew said. His campaign has raised just $17,520 and has no aligned PAC.
Former state Rep. Hannah Kelly of Norwood took the hardest line, vowing to filibuster any video lottery bill and rejecting the revenue argument outright. “Telling me that legalizing those machines is a way to pay our bills is like telling your child to go out and prostitute to pay your light bill,” she said. Kelly’s campaign and PAC have raised about $91,000.
The 8th District: A Speaker With a Fundraising Juggernaut
In southeast Jackson County’s 8th District, Missouri House Speaker Jon Patterson of Lee’s Summit holds an overwhelming financial advantage over challenger Dan Stacy, a former state representative from Blue Springs.
Patterson’s campaign account held $667,000 as of March 31, while his aligned PAC, Missouri Alliance, held $2.1 million. Since January 2025, his two committees have raised $1.5 million combined — with $249,900, or roughly one in every six dollars, coming from gambling interests.
That includes $14,400 from PACs tied to Steve Tilley, the former House Speaker who now serves as chief lobbyist for Torch Electronics, plus $25,000 that Torch gave directly to Missouri Alliance. J&J Ventures, another major video lottery operator, contributed $9,600 to Patterson’s campaign committee and $85,000 to Missouri Alliance through direct gifts and PACs.
Patterson did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Stacy, who has raised just $31,000 and had $10,134 cash on hand at the end of March, has accepted no gambling industry money. He says he would only consider video lottery legislation if it were placed on a statewide ballot.
“Gambling in general does not typically yield positive things in the state of Missouri,” Stacy said, adding that the proliferation of Torch-operated machines has made them difficult to remove from retailers.
The 8th District is one of two Missouri Senate seats Democrats hope to flip in November. The Democratic nominee, state Rep. Keri Ingle of Lee’s Summit, voted against the video lottery bill in the House and has raised $267,000 — including $24,500 from gambling interests, $19,000 of which came from J&J Ventures.
If Patterson wins the primary, Ingle said, his financial ties to video lottery promoters will be central to the general election campaign. “Not only was he the No. 1 recipient, but that was also his No. 1 issue,” she said.
The 20th District: The Clearest Test of Anti-Gambling Sentiment
The 20th District, covering rural Greene County and parts of Barton, Dade, and Webster counties, is the only primary where a sitting incumbent deeply involved in the video lottery debate faces a well-funded opponent who opposes any gambling expansion.
State Sen. Curtis Trent of Springfield — who is running to become Senate majority leader — has raised $223,000 for his campaign and $347,000 for his aligned 417 PAC through March 31. A subsequent $50,000 donation from J&J Ventures on May 19 brought total gambling industry contributions to 417 PAC to $113,294, with $90,000 from J&J Ventures and its affiliated PACs.
Trent has publicly questioned whether the existing gas station machines are actually illegal and argued that legislative action to create a regulatory framework makes more sense than a law enforcement crackdown. He did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this article.
His challenger, Lori Rook, has contributed $100,000 of her own money to her campaign and finished third statewide in the 2024 Republican primary for state treasurer. She is running explicitly against what she calls a pay-to-play culture in Jefferson City.
“It’s completely corrupt, and none of it surprises me,” Rook said. “They’re investing in these candidates that have done their bidding, and they’re not willing to wager against people like me who are going to come in and say no.”
The district’s Democratic candidate, Sean Falconer, has raised about $8,000 with no gambling industry contributions. He argues the current unregulated machines prey on people vulnerable to addiction and said the broader pattern of donations reflects a systemic problem. “Why, in every other realm of life, do we say that the appearance of this conduct is unacceptable, except in this one?” he said.
The Bigger Picture
The three primaries collectively illustrate how a single industry — one that has operated in a legal gray zone for years — can reshape legislative politics through targeted campaign spending. Gambling interests have concentrated their donations on candidates most likely to advance video lottery legislation, creating financial disparities that dwarf what opponents can raise.
Whether Missouri voters in these Republican-leaning districts view that money as a disqualifying conflict of interest or simply the normal functioning of political fundraising will go a long way toward determining whether slot machines become a permanent, regulated fixture of the state’s convenience stores — or remain a contested symbol of lobbying power run amok.