St. Jo Frontier Casino
Located in St. Joseph, Missouri, in the northwestern part of the state on the Missouri River, St. Jo Frontier Casino is one of the smallest casinos in the state.
Despite its size, the casino has a lot to offer, with hundreds of slots and a handful of table games within its 18,000 square feet of gambling space. You must be at least 21 years old to play at the casino. There are also multiple dining options and occasional free outdoor concerts, and a ballroom and patio area that people can rent for conferences, wedding receptions, or private parties.
The casino is situated a little over 50 miles north of Kansas City, about an hour’s drive up Interstate 29 and Interstate 435. It is only about a 10-minute drive from Rosecrans Memorial Airport and about 40 minutes from Kansas City International Airport. There’s no hotel, but there are plenty of places to stay nearby.
Here is an overview of everything you can expect to find when visiting St. Jo Frontier Casino.
St. Jo Frontier Casino details
- Address: 777 Winners Circle, St. Joseph, MO 64505
- Operator: Affinity Interactive
- Phone: 800-888-2946
- Hours: Sunday to Thursday, 10 a.m.-2 a.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 a.m.
- Casino games: Slots, video poker, table games
- Sportsbook: No
- Poker room: No
Games at St. Jo Frontier Casino
While St Jo Frontier Casino is one of the state’s smaller casinos, it still offers a decent selection of games as well as some variety. Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find:
Slot machines
St. Jo Frontier Casino boasts just over 450 slot machines. These include both traditional reel slots and video slots, and range in stakes from pennies to $5 a pull. Popular real money slot machines at St. Jo Frontier Casino include the following:
- 88 Fortunes
- Buffalo Gold
- Cash Wheel
- Diamond Point Progressive
- Lightning Link
- Lock It Link
- Pirate’s Loot
- Sun and Moon
- Wicked Winnings
- Wonder 4 Jackpots
There are also video poker machines, including both All-Star Poker and Ultimate X Poker. You’ll find that St. Jo Frontier Casino offers keno, as well.
Table games
There aren’t a ton of table games at St. Jo Frontier Casino. However, there should be at least these options:
- Trilux Blackjack (three tables)
- Craps (one table)
- Mississippi Stud (one table)
Note that table games have more limited hours than the overall casino. Here is when you can play:
- Tuesday to Thursday: 12 p.m.-2 a.m.
- Friday and Saturday: 3 p.m.-4 a.m.
- Sunday: 3 p.m.-2 a.m.
Also, note that the craps table is only open Thursday through Sunday within those hours.
Play DRF Cash Grab for real cash prizes
At the moment, you cannot bet on sports at St. Jo Frontier Casino or anywhere else in Missouri. However, the casino does invite guests to play DRF Cash Grab, an online sports predicting app that costs nothing to play and offers chances to win real cash prizes.
The app works for both iOS and Android devices and involves guessing various outcomes in NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL games as well as college sports. Though not sports betting per se, the app does provide Missourians one legal way to win money for making sports picks, even as sports betting remains illegal in the state.
Will St. Jo Frontier Casino open a sportsbook?
Missouri has yet to join the many other states that have legalized sports betting. That includes several of Missouri’s neighbors, as sports betting of some kind is legal and available in five states on its borders: Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee. A sixth neighbor — Kansas — is set to join soon, as well.
Over recent years, though, Missouri lawmakers have repeatedly introduced and debated legislation that would bring retail and/or online sports betting to the state. It won’t happen overnight, but it does seem likely that Missouri will eventually allow sports betting. If that happens, many Missouri casinos will no doubt host sportsbooks. St Jo Frontier Casino may or may not be one of them.
Affinity Interactive, parent company of Affinity Gaming, operates seven other casinos in the US, including Mark Twain Casino in La Grange, Missouri. The company partners with William Hill to operate sportsbooks at its Nevada properties. In Iowa, meanwhile, at Affinity’s Lakeside Hotel Casino, a DRF Sportsbook opened at the start of 2022, operated by Affinity’s own Daily Racing Form.
Much like Mark Twain Casino, St. Jo Frontier Casino is a small property and might not wish to devote floor space to a retail sportsbook. Instead, it may prefer simply to install sports betting kiosks. In any case, Affinity does have both casinos as possible options should Missouri make it possible to bet on sports legally.
Amenities at St. Jo Frontier Casino
St. Jo Frontier Casino has more to offer than just gambling. Though relatively small by casino standards, there are nonetheless several dining options and occasional entertainment, as well.
Jo’s Coffee is the place to go for coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and other beverages. Both the Fireside Sports Bar and Grill and the Winner’s Bar & Grill have burgers, sandwiches, and other lighter fare along with drinks. Meanwhile, the Full House Restaurant provides a larger menu with more substantial entrees and other choices, although still at reasonable prices.
Note that the hours vary for each of these locations. Only the Winner’s Bar & Grill is open every day, and the Full House Restaurant is only open Friday through Sunday.
The casino also hosts occasional outdoor concerts, usually on the last Saturday each month. The facility’s Grand Ballroom and patio area are also available for wedding receptions, banquets, concerts, parties, and business meetings.
As we noted, there is no hotel at the casino, although there are plenty nearby and lots of parking available, including for large vehicles.
A-Play Club loyalty program
St. Jo Frontier Casino invites players to participate in Affinity Interactive’s loyalty program, the A-Play Club. Members can earn points for their play at the following rates:
- Slots — three points for every $1 of play
- Video poker — one point for every $1 of play
- Table games — 15 points for every $1 “in theo” (theoretical win)
You can redeem these points in one of two ways:
- 2,000 points = $1 in free slot play
- 4,000 points = $1 in cash
Like other loyalty programs, A-Play Club also has tiers to climb as you accumulate points. The qualifying periods are six months (Jan. 1-June 30 and July 1-Dec. 31). The points you get during a given period dictate your level:
- Red = 0 to 1,499 points
- Silver = 1,500 to 59,999 points
- Gold = 60,000 to 179,999 points
- Platinum = 180,000-plus points
Moving up in levels means receiving several benefits as well as multipliers that help you collect points at a quicker pace. Other program perks include various discounts, birthday offers, private parties, and even special getaways along with airfare.
Note that St. Jo Frontier Casino also offers other promotions to players, including giveaways, special multiplier days when everyone can earn points at higher rates, and drawings for free slot play and other prizes.
St. Jo Frontier Casino history
St. Jo Frontier Casino first opened on June 24, 1994, as one of the original riverboat casinos to open in Missouri after they first became legal. Owner William M. Grace of Grace Entertainment Inc. purchased a dinner boat located in Iowa and, after converting it into a casino, positioned it on the Missouri River in downtown St. Joseph. From there, the boat sailed for short cruises, initially inviting guests to play only card games before eventually introducing slots, as well.
It wasn’t until 1998 that the current property was built in a moat located a few miles north of its original location. By then, Missouri had changed its law to allow riverboat casinos to operate without cruising as long as they were within 1,000 feet of a river and in contact with water.
After Grace died in 2004, Herbst Gaming of Nevada acquired St. Jo Frontier Casino. Herbst operated the property until the company declared bankruptcy and creditors took it over in 2011, changing the company’s name to Affinity Gaming. Later, Affinity Gaming would change its name again to Affinity Interactive (making Affinity Gaming a subsidiary). During those years as a Herbst property, the casino operated as Terrible’s St. Jo Frontier Casino, although once Affinity took over, the casino reverted to its original name.
During those years, the casino floor occasionally changed, adding and then removing slots and table games, but it has more or less remained similar to what it was in the late 1990s.