A small riverside casino in northeast Missouri is running out of goodwill with its regulator. The Missouri Gaming Commission (MGC) has fined Mark Twain Casino in La Grange at least four times since December 2025, for a total of $40,000. Two more penalties are on the agenda for the commission's meeting on 28 October 2026, and some commissioners have already said publicly that the casino has been "getting off a little light".
Fact box
- Who: Mark Twain Casino, owned by Affinity Interactive, and the Missouri Gaming Commission.
- What: a run of fines for security, reporting, marketing and slot accounting failures.
- How much: $25,000 + $5,000 + $5,000 + $5,000 = $40,000 so far. The commission's report lists 48 violation reports in 2024 and 2025.
- When: fines in December 2025, June 2026 and August 2026. Two more penalties are due on 28 October 2026.
- Where: La Grange, Lewis County, on the Mississippi River in northeast Missouri.
- Key point: the regulator's investigators found "a lack of priority in responding to requests from MGC Agents" and "a lack of interest in maintaining compliance".
Four fines in under nine months
The series began in December 2025 with the largest penalty so far, a $25,000 fine. The commission found a 20% failure rate over a 30-day period in which security staff did not update the access log when they opened a kiosk to check for door alarms. Access logs are a basic control in any casino. They show who opened what, and when, so that regulators can reconstruct events if money or equipment goes missing.
The report did not treat it as a one-off. It pointed to a long history of security shortcomings, noting that the casino generated 48 violation reports between 2024 and 2025. Several of those reports covered more than one violation, including failures to complete visitor and vendor badge logs.
In June 2026 came a $5,000 fine over a promotional flyer. A printing error put the wrong dates on a mailed offer. Marketing staff spotted the mistake and moved the promotion to match the misprint, without realising that several dozen flyers had already gone out with the original date. Patrons who tried to redeem the offer were reportedly told nothing could be done. In most businesses that would be a customer service problem. Under Missouri's strict rules on casino promotions, it is a regulatory violation.
Missing logs and missing jackpot money
At its August 2026 meeting the commission added two more fines of $5,000 each.
The first covered a gap of about three weeks, from 17 September to 7 October 2025, when the casino did not send the regulator its daily shift logs. According to the casino, the departure of its previous head of security left the department confused, and each staff member assumed someone else was handling the task. The commission's investigators were not impressed.
"The investigation of this incident showed a lack of priority in responding to requests from MGC Agents, inconsistent explanations as to why there was a lack of compliance, and a lack of interest in maintaining compliance."
— Missouri Gaming Commission report
The second August fine went back further. During an audit, commission agents found that the casino had removed nearly two dozen progressive slot machines in 2021, and staff could not identify what had happened to the jackpot funds tied to them. Under Missouri law, when progressive machines leave the floor, the money in their jackpots must be accounted for and moved to other machines, and only with the commission's written approval. Progressive jackpots are built from players' stakes, so the rule exists to make sure that money ends up back with players.
Commissioners lose patience
The August meeting showed that some commissioners think the penalties have been too soft. Commissioner Sam Gladney questioned whether the fines were having any effect.
"Frankly I think they're getting off a little light here. Is this a pattern here that we're seeing? And (do) we feel like we're getting their attention when we regulate and do things of that nature? Because I do not like hearing that there's a lack of priority in responding to investigations and oversight."
— Sam Gladney, Commissioner, Missouri Gaming Commission
Commissioner Roger Stottlemyre agreed, saying it matters for the community to know that every casino is held to the same standards. Deputy counsel Thomas Venneman told the board that the same concerns had been raised in the commission's informal Disciplinary Review Board, where fines are worked out before they reach the commissioners. "We have seen some violations frequently from this casino," he said, "but I believe we will be addressing more of those in coming months."
That prediction has come true. The agenda for 28 October lists two further penalties against Mark Twain Casino. The agenda does not say what the violations are or how large the proposed fines will be.
A small casino in a year of change
Mark Twain Casino opened in 2001 and marked its 25th anniversary this year. It sits in La Grange, a river town in Lewis County, and has an 18,000 sq ft casino floor with more than 400 slot and video poker machines. It is one of Missouri's 13 commercial casinos and among the smallest by revenue. Herbst Gaming bought it as part of a $287 million deal for three Midwest casinos. Herbst later became Affinity Gaming, and the property is now owned by Affinity Interactive.
The fines come at a time of big changes on the floor. In October the casino announced it would drop live table games, including poker, blackjack, roulette, craps and mini baccarat, and offer electronic versions instead. It said this was due to "ongoing challenges in hiring and retaining skilled and experienced table game dealers and supervisors" and that a small number of employees would be affected. It also pointed to a "substantial investment in a recently renovated gaming floor and team member areas". On 1 October its Fireside Sports Bar & Grill reopened with a remodelled dining room open to all ages, ending its earlier 21-and-over policy.
Business has held up well. In August 2026 the casino's revenue rose 6.5% to $3.2 million, while Missouri's casinos as a whole fell 3.5% to $171.4 million. In July it posted the biggest increase in the state, up 12.4% to $3.3 million.
What it means for…
- Mark Twain Casino: $40,000 is small compared with revenue of more than $3 million a month. But the commissioners' comments in August suggest the next penalties could be larger, and a growing record of compliance failures could weigh on the casino in future dealings with its regulator.
- Players: most of the violations are about internal controls, not games. The progressive jackpot case is different. That money came from players' stakes, and the rules exist to make sure it is returned to players.
- Missouri regulators: the case tests whether a run of small fines can change behaviour. The commission's response on 28 October will show whether it is ready to escalate.
- The wider industry: regulators everywhere are focusing on repeated failures rather than single mistakes, from the Dutch regulator's €886,000 fine against 711 to Evolution's £4.75m UKGC settlement. Land-based compliance gaps can also become public in other ways, as when a self-excluded player hit a jackpot at a Pennsylvania casino.
What happens next
The Missouri Gaming Commission meets on 28 October 2026. The two penalties on its agenda will show whether Mark Twain Casino has fixed its problems or whether commissioners decide that it is time for heavier sanctions. Either way, a casino that has spent heavily on a new floor and a new restaurant now has to show its regulator that it takes compliance just as seriously.
