Integrity of Electronic Gaming Devices (EGDs)

PURPOSE: This rule establishes the standards for the integrity of EGDs. (1) EGDs shall— (A) As authorized by the commission, accept only electronic cards, tickets, coupons, credits, currency, or tokens as wagers; (B) Be electronic in design and operation and not be electromechanical or mechanical in operation; (C) Not subject a player to physical hazards; (D) Have a secure and dedicated data protocol link to any slot accounting system, which shall be a closed system inaccessible to unauthorized communication with any other computer, device, or mode of telecommunications unless otherwise approved by the commission; (E) Have an on/off switch that controls the electrical current used in the operation of the EGD and any associated equipment, which shall be located in an accessible place within its interior; (F) Be designed so that it shall not be adversely affected by magnetic, electromagnetic, electrostatic, or radio frequency interference; (G) If designed to accept physical tokens, have at least one (1) electronic token acceptor. Token acceptors must be designed to accept designated tokens and reject others. The token acceptor on an EGD must be designed to prevent the use of cheating methods such as slugging, stringing, spooning, the insertion of foreign objects, and other manipulation. All token acceptors are subject to approval by the commission. Tokens deemed invalid by the acceptor shall be rejected to the coin tray and shall not be counted as credits. The EGD control program must be capable of handling rapidly fed tokens or simultaneously fed tokens so that occurrences of inappropriate token-ins are prevented. Gaming devices shall have sensors capable of determining the direction and speed of token travel in the receiver and any improper direction or coin traveling at too slow of a speed shall result in the EGD going into an error condition; (H) Be designed so the internal space of the EGD is not readily accessible when the front door is both closed and locked; (I) Have a hopper contained in a locked area within the EGD if designed to dispense tokens. The EGD control program shall ensure the diverter directs tokens to the hopper or, in the alternative, to the drop compartment when the token level in the hopper makes contact with the diverter’s hopper-full sensor probe. Hopperless gaming devices shall always divert tokens to the drop compartment; (J) Contain no hardware or software switches that alter the paytables or payout percentages in its operation, other than as approved by the commission and which require access to a locked logic area; (K) Conspicuously display an identification plate with the following information securely affixed by the manufacturer to the exterior of the EGD cabinet: 1. Manufacturer; 2. Serial number; 3. Model number; and 4. Date of manufacturer; (L) Contain the rules of play for each EGD displayed on the face or screen. Rules shall be complete, clear, and easily understood. Each EGD must also display the credits wagered and the credits awarded for the occurrence of each possible winning combination based on the number of credits wagered. All information required by this subsection must be kept GAMING COMMISSION under glass or another transparent substance and at no time may stickers or other removable items be placed over this information. Additionally— 1. If the game contains a bonus feature including a game within a game, the following rules shall be met: A. The game shall display clearly to the player which game rules apply to the current game state; B. If the game requires obtaining several events or symbols toward a bonus feature, the number of events or symbols needed to trigger the bonus feature shall be indicated along with the number of events or symbols collected at any point; C. The game shall not adjust the likelihood of a bonus feature occurring based on the history of prizes obtained in previous games; however, the commission may allow the likelihood to be adjusted if a white paper is submitted to and approved by the commission prior to testing by an independent testing laboratory; D. If a bonus game is triggered after accruing a certain number of events or symbols or combination of events or symbols of a different kind, the probability of obtaining like events or symbols shall not decrease as the game progresses; and E. The game display shall make it clear to the player that the game is in a bonus mode; 2. If a bonus feature requires extra credits to be wagered and the game accumulates all winnings to a temporary win meter, the game shall— A. Provide a means where winnings on the temporary meter can be bet to allow for instances where the player has an insufficient credit meter balance to complete the feature; B. Transfer all credits on the temporary meter to the credit meter upon completion of the feature; and C. Provide the player an opportunity not to participate; and 3. If the game offers a menu of games to a player— A. The methodology employed by a player to select and discard a particular game for play shall be clearly displayed on the gaming device and easily followed; B. The gaming device shall be able to clearly display to the player, at the player’s request, all games, game rules and paytables before the player must commit to playing any game; C. The player shall at all times be made aware of which game has been selected for play and is being played, as applicable; D. The player shall not be forced to play a game just by selecting that game. The player shall be able to return to the main menu; E. It shall not be possible to start a new game before the current play is completed and all game meters have been updated; F. The set of games offered to the player for selection or the paytable can be changed only by a secure method approved by the commission, which includes turning on and off games available for play through a video screen interface; and G. No changes to the set of games offered to the player for selection or to the paytable are permitted while there are credits on the player’s credit meter or while a game is in progress; (M) Be capable of continuing the current game with all current game features after a malfunction is cleared. This rule does not apply if an EGD is rendered totally inoperable; (N) If designed to accept tokens, have attached a drop bucket housed within a locked compartment separate from any other compartment of the EGD to collect and retain all tokens, diverted to the drop compartment; (O) Be capable of detecting and displaying the following error conditions which an attendant must clear: 1. Token-in jam; 2. Token-out jam; 3. Hopper empty or time-out; 4. Program error; 5. Hopper runaway or extra token paid out; 6. Reverse token-in; 7. Reel error; and 8. Door open; (P) Use a data communication protocol which ensures that erroneous data or signals will not adversely affect the operation of the EGD; (Q) Display a Missouri Gaming Commission registration number permanently imprinted, affixed or impressed on the outside of each EGD; (R) Have the capacity to display on the front of each EGD its rules of play, character combinations requiring payouts, and the amount of the related payouts. In addition, the Class B licensee shall display on each EGD either— 1. A clear description of any merchandise or thing of value offered as a payout, including the cash equivalent value of the merchandise or thing of value offered, the dates the merchandise or thing of value will be offered if the Class B licensee establishes a time limit upon initially offering the merchandise or thing of value and the availability or unavailability to the patron of the optional cash equivalent value; or 2. The name or a brief description of the merchandise or thing of value offered, provided, however, a sign containing the information specified in paragraph (1)(R)1. of this subsection shall be displayed in a prominent location approved by the commission near the EGD; (S) Have a mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic device that automatically precludes a player from operating the EGD after a jackpot; (T) Be designed in such a manner that the microprocessor or equivalent which operates the EGD is assigned a unique identification code, and that the critical program storage media (CPSM) is subject to authentication via an external thirdparty verification tool approved by the commission; (U) If designed to accept currency, tickets, or coupons, have a bill validator into which a patron may insert such items in exchange for an equal value of EGD credits. EGDs containing a bill validator— 1. May accept any single denomination or combination of denominations of the following United States currency: A. One dollar ($1) bills; B. Five dollar ($5) bills; C. Ten dollar ($10) bills; D. Twenty dollar ($20) bills; E. Fifty dollar ($50) bills; and F. One hundred dollar ($100) bills; 2. May accept tickets and coupons in compliance with established commission regulations; 3. Shall have software programs that enable the bill validator to differentiate between genuine and counterfeit bills to a high degree of accuracy; 4. Shall be equipped with a bill validator drop box to collect the currency, tickets, and/or coupons inserted and accepted by the bill validator. The bill validator drop box shall— A. Be housed in a locked compartment separate from any other compartment of the EGD; B. Be accessible by a key that will access only the bill validator drop box and no other area of the EGD; C. Have a slot opening through which currency, tickets, or coupons can be inserted; D. Be readily identifiable to the EGD from which it was removed; and E. Have a separate lock to secure access to the contents of the drop box, the key to which shall not access any other area of the EGD; and 5. Shall maintain sufficient electronic metering to report the— A. Total monetary value of all items accepted; B. Total number of all items accepted; C. Number of bills accepted for each bill denomination; D. Number of items accepted for each item type; and E. The last five (5) items accepted; (V) Have a tower light or candle located conspicuously on top of the gaming device that automatically illuminates when a player has won an amount or is redeeming credits the device cannot automatically pay, an error condition has occurred, or a call attendant condition has been initiated by the player. This requirement may be substituted for an audible alarm for bartop style devices; (W) Not contain or display the following content: 1. The performance of acts or simulated acts of sexual intercourse, masturbation, sodomy, bestiality, oral copulation, flagellation, or any sexual acts which are prohibited by law; 2. Any portion of the areola of the female breast; 3. The actual or simulated touching, caressing, or fondling of another person’s breast, anus, or genitals; 4. The actual or simulated displaying of the pubic hair, anus, vulva, or genitals; 5. Obscene language; or 6. Any other content deemed inappropriate by the commission; (X) Not be capable of reproducing or reprinting gaming tickets; and (Y) Transfer ticket information to the database or other secured component(s) of the validation system before the ticket information is removed from memory. (2) EGD CPSM shall not execute any functionality not intended for normal game play or tournament play, such as demonstration software or show mode features. (3) Any EGD manufacturer holding a supplier license under the provisions of 11 CSR 45-4 et seq. shall notify the commission of any malfunction or anomaly affecting the integrity or operation of devices or systems provided under the scope of such license regardless of the gaming jurisdiction in which the malfunction or anomaly occurred or was discovered. The notification shall occur within forty-eight (48) hours of the supplier licensee being apprised of the malfunction or anomaly and shall be in a format approved by the commission. (4) The commission shall be provided, free of charge, forensic tools which permit the recovery of non-volatile memory of EGDs approved for use. Such recovery techniques shall be satisfactory to the commission. 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 May 13, 1998, effective Oct. 30, 1998. Amended: Filed March 31, 2005, effective Oct. 30, 2005. 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.