 |
YELLOW SHEET Office of the State Auditor of Missouri |
Report No. 2000-52
June 27, 2000
The following problems were discovered as a result of an audit conducted by our office of the Missouri Gaming Commission.
Our audit has identified circumstances that raise questions about the state's "loss limit" per excursion. Our questions about the "loss limit" were raised when we observed the entrances to one of the boats for a gaming excursion and noted some individuals were allowed to enter the gaming excursion carrying containers of gambling tokens. Individuals entering a gaming excursion are given a "scrip" or electronic card which allows an individual to buy chips or tokens up to $500 per gaming excursion, the buy in limit.
Allowing individuals with a $500 scrip or electronic card to also bring tokens onto a gaming excursion appears to have the effect of raising the buy in limit to $500 plus the amount of the tokens or chips carried onto the boat, which appears to be a violation of the state's $500 loss or buy in limit.
The State Auditor's Office recommends the Missouri Gaming Commission discontinue the practice of allowing individuals to enter a gaming excursion with tokens and chips from previous gaming excursions to improve enforcement of the $500 loss limit. In addition, we recommend the Missouri Gaming Commission request the legislature provide additional guidance regarding how the $500 loss limit should be interpreted and enforced.
As part of our review of the Missouri Gaming Commission, we visited five of the boat operations to review procedures. A review of the gaming device (slot machines) inventory listing was performed along with testing the computer chips in several slot machines. Our review noted the following areas in need of improvement.
For four of the boats visited, we noted several slot machines where the serial number of the slot machine per the gaming device inventory listing did not agree to the actual serial number on the slot machine. In addition, we noted on one boat an instance where the Missouri Gaming Commission property tag number per the gaming device inventory listing did not agree to the actual property tag number on the slot machine. Complete and accurate gaming device inventory listings are necessary to ensure only properly tested machines are on the gaming floor.
When we were testing the computer chips in the slot machines, we noted one instance where the main computer processing board was not properly sealed to the slot machine with evidence tape. State regulations require evidence tape to be affixed by an authorized commission agent and must include the date, signature, and identification number of the agent. The Missouri Gaming Commission should ensure the processing board and computer chips are properly sealed into the slot machine to reduce the risks of tampering with the computer chips. These computer chips control the game payout percentage.
The Missouri Gaming Commission licenses companies that supply the gaming boat operators with equipment and equipment maintenance services and the licensure fees are paid by the company receiving the license. Our review noted the following needs improvement:
Investigations for supplier licenses are not completed on a timely basis. The Missouri Gaming Commission will issue a temporary supplier license if preliminary background investigations have been successfully completed and the supplier is licensed in another state. Applications for supplier licenses have been accepted since 1993 and the Missouri Gaming Commission has issued twelve permanent supplier licenses. However, there are still nine suppliers that hold temporary supplier licenses whose application dates ranged from November 1993 to July 1996. This appears to be an excessive amount of time for a supplier to be under review.
