Convenience gambling refers to gambling machines that have proliferated in communities and neighborhood areas such as convenience stores, truck stops, and bars. These stand-alone machines, which include video poker, video keno, and slot machines, are known as electronic gambling devices, or EGDs. Some states, such as South Carolina, allow EGDs to operate just about anywhere on a 24-hour basis. In other states, EGDs are run by the state lottery. In Nevada, EGDs can be found in the airport, supermarkets, sandwich shops, and elsewhere.
Many states also have quasi-legal EGDs, known as gray machines.
They are not licensed to pay out winnings and are, supposedly, for amusement only. In reality, winnings are often paid out surreptitiously. Convenience gambling in some ways represents gambling at its worst. Since EGDs can be almost anywhere, avoiding them is difficult. In some Las Vegas neighborhoods, for instance, a resident cannot even buy a gallon of milk without walking past rows of gambling machines.