The first thing we want to do is come up with a definition for the term “Convenience Gambling” for the sake of this article.
Convenience gambling is defined as providing the citizens of a given state or jurisdiction with access to as many methods of gambling and as many gambling venues as is reasonably practicable in order to maximize their enjoyment of gambling.
Online gambling, of course, is the pinnacle of convenience gaming, at least in a certain sense. When it comes to location, internet gambling may be done from any area in the world at any time. When it comes to individual online casinos that are licensed and controlled by the states that have decided to do so, you have the ability to bet from any location inside the state’s borders using your mobile device or computer.
The experience of playing a real slot machine, as opposed to the experience of playing a virtual slot machine on your phone, tablet, or computer, is often perceived to be superior by many individuals. I suppose that is correct, but it should be noted that the returns-to-player are much greater on most of these sites, implying that the house advantage is significantly smaller as a result of this.
For the time being, we will disregard internet casinos and instead concentrate on convenience gaming, which refers to gambling machines that are located in physical places.
When it comes to convenience gaming, West Virginia is the epitome of the practice. If you wish to go to a tobacco store, you will very certainly discover such machines at that establishment. If you wish to go to a pub, you will usually always find a limited number of slot machines (5-7 units) that have been approved by the state’s Limited Video Lottery, if you do not mind spending money. If you go to a restaurant that is accessible to people of all ages, you will find that approximately 10% of the time there will be a separate area with a restricted number of video lottery machines.
It doesn’t take much to attract gamers to these locations, to be quite honest. All of them (with the exception of the real casinos) are prohibited from providing complimentary alcoholic drinks. Aside from a few inexpensive beers, the majority of them do not even offer alcoholic drinks. These establishments are prohibited from providing cash back, a players club system, or any other bonuses apart from the following:
- Free coffee will be provided.
- Free soda/pop will be provided.
- Free bottled water will be provided.
- Snacks and appetizers are provided for free.
And that’s all there is to it. Some locations provide better snacks than others, while a tiny number of sites do not offer any snacks at all, which is a disappointment. Typically, tiny candy bars, small bags of chips or pretzels, and/or Little Debbie snack cake-type items are available at the vast majority of establishments that do provide snacks.
To be quite honest, it works. Player after player comes in and presses the button on their preferred slot or keno game (or, on rare occasions, video poker), and they often lose just as much as they would at a casino, if not more. For similar reasons to those that apply to casinos, the state of West Virginia receives a portion of all gross profits.