The thousands of illegal video gaming machines operating with impunity throughout Missouri will continue operating, for now, but without an official Missouri seal on them.

It’s a small but notable victory if only in that it shows there actually are lines our state legislators won’t cross in defense of this well-heeled, parasitic industry.

Give Torch Electronics points for gumption. The Wildwood-based company has placed thousands of its unlicensed video gaming machines in gas stations and elsewhere all over Missouri, in open defiance of state gambling laws. For years, it has siphoned off money from public education by peeling away gambling patrons from licensed casinos without paying the state a dime in gambling taxes.

The company even managed, for a time, to finagle what amounted to an official seal of approval from Missouri’s state government on its illegal games — though that stunt has now, blessedly, backfired.

State Treasurer Vivek Malek had the bright idea to display official state ads publicizing his office’s unclaimed property program on Torch’s unlicensed gaming machines, which have been at the center of political and legal controversy for years.

Malek on Tuesday was forced to reverse course and announce he will have those seals removed, in a rare instance of Missouri lawmakers standing up to the industry.

Malek had defended his decision to partner his office with a company that openly flouts state gaming laws by noting that Torch wasn’t charging the state to display the ads.

Of course it wasn’t — because the ads would fool players into thinking the machines are officially sanctioned and regulated, while helping further entrench an illegal industry with the sheen of state approval. 

Missouri’s licensed casinos operate under a regulatory system that ensures the games are fair, provides information for problem gamblers and heavily taxes the profits to help fund education.

The companies that operate the video gaming machines (Torch is the biggest of several) avoid all that pesky regulation and taxes by claiming the games aren’t actually gambling because of the way they’re structured.

Nonsense. People put money in hoping to win more back, and sometimes they do. That’s gambling.

That’s why the Missouri Gaming Association and others have long called for the state to crack down. Alas, the gaming machine industry has high-priced lobbyists in Jefferson City who pad the pockets of politicians, who have obediently refrained from interfering with its illegal profit.

But Malek’s move to put state public service announcements on the machines turned out to be a bridge too far even for them.

The announcements literally displayed an official state seal. They also displayed Malek’s name as he seeks election to the office to which he was appointed.  

“It’s no secret that this is designed to make these machines appear as if they are operated by the state of Missouri,” State Rep. Scott Cupps, R-Shell Knob, chair of the House subcommittee that controls the treasurer’s budget, said last week.

As the Post-Dispatch’s Kurt Erickson reported then, Cupps expressed frustration with Malek for refusing to appear before his subcommittee to explain the decision to effectively give the machines the state’s imprimatur.

“Man, this is bad,” Cupps told the subcommittee. “This is bad government. We have the state seal and the state treasurer’s name on illicit gambling machines.”

Malek last week responded with a letter to Cupps pushing back on the implication of impropriety. He maintained that the promotional campaign “is neither a state endorsement of gaming nor a statement regarding the legality of the machines in question.”

And how was the average gambler supposed to know that?

Most of Missouri’s political leaders have, until now, been generally passive enablers of a rogue industry that drains education funding. But allowing a Missouri seal to remain on those machines would arguably have made them more like accomplices. Which was apparently too much even for this Legislature.

Under heavy pressure from both parties and lousy publicity for a week, Malek on Tuesday announced the promotional materials would come off the machines.

The episode may ultimately prove useful in that is has given Missouri voters a clear example of Malek’s judgment as he seeks to win a full term as state treasurer. It’s not a good look.

In a final defense of his indefensible original program, Malek (perhaps inadvertently) said the quiet part out loud, declaring, “I am not here to judge Missourians who gamble. I am not the state pastor.”

But the industry says this isn’t really gambling, remember?

Of course it’s gambling. And it’s costing the state money for its schools and legitimacy in its laws. Now that some lawmakers have discovered they can confront this shady industry without the sky falling, they should make the obvious next play and finally shut them down.