Code of Ethics

PURPOSE: The Missouri Gaming Commission is obligated to promote the public interest and maintain public confidence in the commission’s integrity and impartiality. As a state regulatory agency, the commission and its staff are held to the highest ethical and professional standards and must conduct all business in a manner which maintains the public trust. Furthermore the commission is charged with ensuring the integrity of the legalized gaming in Missouri. Therefore, the following Code of Ethics prescribes measures to prohibit practices that possess a potential of wrong-doing or the appearance of impropriety. (1) Standard of Compliance for Commission and its Employees. Each member of the commission and all of its employees are directed to read and comply with this Code of Ethics and with Executive Order 92-04 dated January 31, 1992. For the purposes of this Code of Ethics, the term employee shall include all direct employees of the commission as well as all persons who are employed by entities which have contracted with the commission to perform investigations or have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the commission where specific mention is made of this Code of Ethics. The commission shall be responsible for the enforcement of applicable statutes, the provisions of the Executive Order, and this rule by the suspension or discharge of the employee or other disciplinary action as the commission deems appropriate. The definitions at 11 CSR 45-5.056(1)(H) and (K) shall be applicable to this Code of Ethics. (2) Prohibition of Gratuities From Persons Subject to Commission Regulation. All members of the commission and commission employees are prohibited from accepting a gift from any holder of or applicant for a license issued by the commission or any representative or agent of such license holder or applicant. (3) Recommendations for Employment Prohibited. Every commissioner and every person employed by the commission or appointed to a commission committee is forbidden and prohibited to solicit, suggest, request, or recommend to any holder of or applicant for a license issued by the commission or any representative or agent of such license holder or applicant the appointment of any person to any office, place, position or employment. (4) Stock Ownership and Non-Fair Market Value Contracts Prohibited. No commissioner or any employee of the commission, while in office or employed by the commission, or during the first two (2) years after termination of office or employment, may own any stock or other ownership interest in any holder of or applicant for a license issued by the commission or enter into any contractual relationship with any holder of or applicant for a license issued by the commission or any representative or agent of such license holder or applicant in which the commissioner or commission employee receives consideration that is above fair market value. (5) Prohibited Relationships. No person who is related to a member or employee of the commission within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity shall possess any type of license issued by the commission. (6) Compensation. No member or employee of the commission shall solicit any thing of value, nor shall any member or employee of the commission accept any thing of value, in addition to that compensation received from Missouri in their official capacity, intended to influence the member or employee’s official duties or in exchange for having exercised the member’s or employee’s official powers or performed the member’s or employee’s official duties in a particular manner. For the purposes of this section, grant or payment of a thing of value to another person on behalf of the member or employee shall be considered grant or payment to the member or employee and an offer of an employment opportunity to any person shall constitute a thing of value. Nothing in this section shall preclude the acceptance of any award, presentation, honor, or memorabilia presented to the member or employee of the commission in recognition of his/her performance in his/her official capacity and not designed to influence any particular action taken by the member or employee of the commission. (7) Gambling Prohibited at Certain Properties. No member or employee of the commission shall participate in any gaming, GAMING COMMISSION fantasy sports, or sports wagering offered by any licensee or applicant, or under the jurisdiction of the commission. (8) Confidentiality. No information furnished to the commission by a corporation, organization, or person, except such matters as are specifically required to be open to public inspection by the provisions of Chapter 313 and Chapter 610, RSMo, shall be open to public inspection or made public except on order of the commission. (9) Ex Parte Contacts. No commissioner shall knowingly have ex parte conversations related to matters under the jurisdiction of the commission with any applicant or licensee, their representatives, or any party to a matter pending before the commission. As ex parte communications, either oral or written, may occur inadvertently, any member of the commission who receives such a communication shall immediately prepare a written report concerning the communication and submit it to the chairman and each member of the commission. The report shall identify the person(s) who participated in the ex parte communication, the circumstances which resulted in the communication, the substance of the communication, and the relationship of the communication to a particular matter at issue before the commission. (10) Confidential Information. No member or employee of the commission shall use or disclose confidential information gained in the course of or by reason of the member’s or employee’s official position or activities to further the member’s or employee’s own financial or political interests or the financial or political interests of anyone else. (11) Confidential Information. A former member of the commission having information that s/he knows is confidential governmental information or knew was confidential governmental information at the time the member or employee acquired the information about a person or matter subject to the jurisdiction of the commission while the member or employee was associated with the commission may not disclose such information without the consent of the commission granted prior to such disclosure and after complete disclosure to the commission of the information sought to be disclosed, all persons to whom the information is to be disclosed, and the reasons for such disclosure. Confidential information means information that has been obtained under governmental authority and which, at the time this rule is applied, the government or the Missouri Gaming Commission is prohibited by law from disclosing to the public or has a legal privilege not to disclose, and which is not otherwise available to the public. AUTHORITY: section 39(g) of Article III, Mo. Const., section 313.004, RSMo 2016, and section 313.955, RSMo Supp. 2025.* Original rule filed March 29, 1994, effective Sept. 30, 1994. Emergency rule filed June 14, 1994, effective June 24, 1994, expired Oct. 21, 1994. Amended: Filed Feb. 19, 1998, effective Aug. 30, 1998. Amended: Filed Nov. 10, 1998, effective June 30, 1999. Amended: Filed Sept. 29, 2011, effective May 30, 2012. Amended: Filed April 26, 2018, effective Dec. 30, 2018. Amended: Filed May 14, 2025, effective Nov. 30, 2025. *Original authority: 313.004, RSMo 1993, amended 1994, 2014, and 313.955, RSMo 2016, amended 2019.