Tuesday, December 30, 2025 2:22 PM
Image aggregated from Columbia Missourian.
Across Columbia, people are hanging around gas stations and liquor stores, but not to purchase a snack for the road or a pack of cigarettes.
Instead, many spend hours gambling, hunched over flashing machines, chasing their next win.
The machines — often called “gray machines” because of their ambiguous legal status — are owned by Torch Electronics, a company that has faced mounting legal challenges from cities throughout Missouri. Springfield passed an ordinance banning the machines in February 2024, and Kansas City passed its own ban Oct. 16.
Even though the devices have been ruled illegal in cities across the state, they remain operational within Columbia’s city limits.