Minimum Standards for Electronic Gaming Devices (EGDs)

PURPOSE: This rule establishes the minimum standards for EGDs. (1) EGDs shall not be programmed to pay out less than eighty percent (80%) of all wagers, including bonus games, for ten (10) million handle pulls using the volatility index calculated at a ninety-five percent (95%) confidence level. The minimum payout percentage requirement shall be met regardless of the amount wagered per game. (2) EGDs that may be affected by player skill must meet the minimum payout percentage requirement even when the skill of the player provides the lowest possible return to the player from the skill portion of the game. (3) Any advertised payout on an EGD shall occur, statistically, at least once in fifty (50) million games. (4) EGDs shall— (A) Be subject to testing prior to implementation within the state and at any time thereafter by the commission or an independent testing laboratory (ITL) licensed by the commission, and subject to review and approval by the commission for adherence to the regulations and technical standards; (B) Be controlled by a microprocessor or the equivalent in such a manner that the game outcome is completely controlled by the microprocessor or equivalent device as approved by the commission; (C) Utilize an industry standard communication protocol approved by the commission that is compatible with and interfaces with the communication protocol used by all slot accounting systems approved by the commission for use at an excursion gambling boat. Any new EGDs and any new slot machine interface board (SMIB), including the device’s or board’s communication software, shall, prior to approval for use within the state, be tested for interoperability with all slot accounting systems utilized in Missouri excursion gambling boats, by a licensed ITL, to ensure compliance with this chapter. Once approved, modifications to said EGDs, SMIBs, or the device’s or board’s communication software shall be further tested for interoperability to ensure compliance with this chapter, unless otherwise approved by the commission; (D) Have a logic area in a separate locked internal enclosure within the device which houses electronic components that have the potential to significantly influence the operation of the gaming device. Electronic components required to be housed within the logic area include computer processor units GAMING COMMISSION (CPUs) and all critical program storage media; (E) Clearly and accurately display, via Attendant Menu, the identification number and version, as applicable, of all software and firmware contained within the EGD and its top box which are involved in game communication or the operation and calculation of game play, game display, or game result determination; (F) Be able to recover to the state the gaming devices were in immediately prior to the occurrence of a program interruption or power loss and continue a game with no data loss. Upon program resumption, the following procedures must be performed: 1. Any communications to an external device shall not begin until the program resumption routine, including selftests, is completed successfully; 2. Gaming device control programs test themselves for possible corruption due to failure of the program storage media; and 3. The integrity of all critical memory is checked; (G) Have game data recall capable of providing all information required to fully reconstruct at least the last ten (10) games, retrievable upon the operation of an external key-switch or other secure method not available to the player. The ten- (10-) game recall shall reflect bonus rounds in their entirety. For bonus rounds that may have a variable number of free spins, there shall be a minimum of fifty (50) recallable spins for each bonus round; (H) Have a random selection process that must not produce detectable patterns of game elements or detectable dependency upon any previous game outcome, the amount wagered, or upon the style or method of play; however, the commission may allow a game with a game feature or play mechanic with a detectable dependency if a white paper for the game feature or play mechanic is submitted to and approved by the commission prior to testing by an ITL. The commission reserves the right to require the removal of the program if it determines, in its sole discretion, that removal is in the best interest of the state of Missouri; (I) Clearly and accurately display applicable rules of play and the award that will be paid to the player when the player obtains a specific win, including mystery awards. The displays shall clearly indicate whether awards are designated in denominational units, currency, credits, or some other unit. All paytable information must be able to be accessed by a player prior to the player committing to a wager. Pay glass and its corresponding artwork for mechanical displays must be submitted to an ITL designated by the commission for review and approval prior to implementation within the state; (J) Display an accurate representation of each game outcome. After selection of the game outcome, the EGD must not make a variable secondary decision which affects the result shown to the player; (K) Have a complete set of nonvolatile meters including coin in, coin out, bills in, tickets in, tickets out, coupons in, cashable electronic promotion in (CEP In), cashable electronic promotion out (CEP Out), non-cashable electronic promotion in (NCEP In), non-cashable electronic promotion out (NCEP Out), attendant paid external bonus payout, machine paid external bonus payout, wagering account transfer in (WAT In), wagering account transfer out (WAT Out), number of games played, attendant paid progressive, machine paid progressive, attendant paid cancel credits, and attendant paid jackpots, or their equivalent as approved by the commission; (L) Have available for random selection at the initiation of each play based upon the selected wager, each possible permutation or combination of game elements which produce winning or losing game outcomes for that wager; however, the commission may allow a game with a game feature or play mechanic that does not offer each possible winning or losing game outcome if a white paper for the game feature or play mechanic is submitted to and approved by the commission prior to testing by an ITL. The commission reserves the right to require the removal of the program if it determines, in its sole discretion, that removal is in the best interest of the state of Missouri; and (M) Not automatically alter paytables or any function of the EGD based on internal computation of the hold percentage. (5) For games which utilize physical reel strips, the EGD shall have the capablity to perform a reel strip and paytable test for each award, which allows the Class B licensee to verify the combination and payout listed on the pay glass/pay screen matches the reel strip combination and the award credits displayed. (6) EGDs shall not display the highest advertised award following a random access memory (RAM) clear or when exiting a tilt condition, except when returning to the last known play state. (7) When an EGD is unable to automatically provide payment of jackpots requiring the payment to be made by the excursion gambling boat, jackpot slips must be prepared either by the slot accounting system or manually by casino personnel. (8) An EGD and its associated equipment or associated system shall not display a payout to the patron that is not achievable on that EGD. (9) In addition to the requirements of this rule, all licensees shall comply with Chapter E of the Minimum Internal Control Standards as authorized by 11 CSR 45-9.105. AUTHORITY: sections 313.004 and 313.807, RSMo 2016, and sections 313.800 and 313.805, RSMo Supp. 2024.* Emergency rule filed Sept. 1, 1993, effective Sept. 20, 1993, expired Jan. 17, 1994. Emergency rule filed Jan. 5, 1994, effective Jan. 18, 1994, expired Jan. 30, 1994. Original rule filed Sept. 1, 1993, effective Jan. 31, 1994. Amended: Filed June 25, 1996, effective Feb. 28, 1997. Amended: Filed May 13, 1998, effective Oct. 30, 1998. Amended: Filed March 31, 2005, effective Oct. 30, 2005. Amended: Filed Aug. 30, 2006, effective March 30, 2007. Amended: Filed Jan. 30, 2014, effective Sept. 30, 2014. Amended: Filed April 25, 2019, effective Dec. 30, 2019. Amended: Filed Feb. 25, 2022, effective Sept. 30, 2022. Amended: Filed June 29, 2023, effective Feb. 29, 2024. Amended: Filed Dec. 5, 2024, effective July 30, 2025. *Original authority: 313.004, RSMo 1993, amended 1994, 2014; 313.800, RSMo 1991, amended 1992, 1993, 1994, 2005, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2022; 313.805, RSMo 1991, amended 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2008, 2010, 2021, 2022; and 313.807, RSMo 1991, amended 1992, 1993, 2000, 2012. 11 CSR 45-5.192 Electronic Gaming Device (EGD) Authentication PURPOSE: This rule establishes the minimum standards for authenticating critical program storage media (CPSM). (1) EGD platforms submitted for approval shall provide the following support for authenticating CPSM: (A) A verification mechanism, approved by the commission, which authenticates all CPSM. The verification mechanism shall— 1. Be accessible via a communication port and protocol approved by the commission; 2. Possess an approved communication port located within the locked EGD cabinet and be accessible without requiring access to the locked logic compartment; 3. Provide on-demand authentication of each EGD CPSM. This function shall not require the EGD power to be cycled and the execution time shall not exceed twenty (20) minutes; 4. Generate a unique signature for each CPSM utilizing Secure Hashing Algorithm-1 (SHA-1) with Hash-Based Message Authentication Code (HMAC), as defined by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Hashing methodologies will be continually reevaluated by the commission; and 5. Provide support for escrowing verification results. Verification results shall be preserved and retrievable pending a subsequent verification request or a loss of power; and (B) A means for the use of third-party authentication tools approved by the commission. (2) Legacy EGD platforms which do not offer a communication port are excluded from the requirements in subsection (1)(A). (3) All EGDs shall be designed to permit a copy of random access memory (RAM) to be extracted utilizing tools and procedures approved by the commission and which shall be provided by the EGD supplier. (4) All licensees are required to submit a request to the commission for authorization of installation and use of any diagnostic data collection device on the gaming floor. The request shall contain the following: (A) The licensee making the request; (B) Description of the device; (C) Installation date and time; (D) Expected duration of use; (E) Personnel performing the installation; and (F) A technical description as to why the device is needed. AUTHORITY: sections 313.004 and 313.807, RSMo 2016, and sections 313.800 and 313.805, RSMo Supp. 2024.* Original rule filed March 30, 2011, effective Nov. 30, 2011. Amended: Filed Dec. 5, 2024, effective July 30, 2025. *Original authority: 313.004, RSMo 1993, amended 1994, 2014; 313.800, RSMo 1991, amended 1992, 1993, 1994, 2005, 2014, 2016, 2021, 2022; 313.805, RSMo 1991, amended 1992, 1993, 1994, 2000, 2008, 2010, 2021, 2022; and 313.807, RSMo 1991, amended 1992, 1993, 2000, 2012.