President Casino Loses

On Tuesday, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the President Casino cannot get a refund for sales taxes that it paid in earlier years on slot machines and food and beverages that they gave away. They were arguing that they were paying taxes on them twice, but the court saw it differently.

They say that the state administrative hearing commission that said that they were due a refund on those sales taxes was in error, and that they are not due the money back. The casino is based in St. Louis, and was hoping for a substantial return on the monies already paid, but that will not be happening now.

The casino says that since they gave away the food and slot machine comps as rewards, they should fall under the sales tax exemption category because it includes those costs already. They are part of the average payback rates that are set for slot machines – and they already pay Missouri 20% gaming tax on those machines.

The casino came out of bankruptcy three years ago when it was purchased by Pinnacle Entertainment – who wanted the casino to try and get back some of that paid out taxes as they seemed to be double dipping. However, the court said that sales and gaming taxes are two different beasts and they cannot be included in the items that would be eligible for the exemption.

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