Pembroke police on Monday, with the aid of several other law enforcement agencies, pulled six illegal video gaming machines from three local businesses. But if you are one of those who likes to feed these machines, don’t fret — there are hundreds more spread out across the county where you can go and spend your time and dollars.

The number of gaming machines operating illegally in Robeson County would be our dirty little secret, except it’s not a secret. No one doubts they can be found without passing too many corners — and some operate with impunity, almost in plain view. We know of one business that advertises itself as a casino.

This is true even though our district attorney has implored local law enforcement to aggressively hunt down the machines and seize them.

So why do these businesses so flagrantly flaunt the law? They have made a tactical decision that there is enough profit to be made to risk an occasional inconvenience of having a machine or a few seized. We are seldom made aware of anyone being charged with crimes, which are misdemeanors anyway, and no one is going to prison.

So absent is the deterrent to keep these establishments from offering gaming.

A more interesting question, one we have posed and answered before, is why are gaming machines outlawed in a state with an “education” lottery that is aggressively advertised. The answer can be found in the question. North Carolina doesn’t want people who might buy lottery tickets feeding these machines, so they made them illegal, although keeping them illegal has been tricky as they are easily modified to slip in under the law. It isn’t by chance that the North Carolina Education Lottery was signed into law in 2005, and the next year these gaming machines were outlawed.

Of course the state’s position is hypocritical.

Making its position approaching immoral is the hard and sad fact that poor people are the most likely to pursue the long odds of getting rich quickly by sticking a couple of dollars into the hands of a cashier. The best way to get rich, or at least live comfortably, remains the same: Get educated or a skill, obtain a job, delay marriage and having children, spend and invest wisely — and enjoy the fruits.

But that takes time and sure isn’t sexy.

Ours isn’t a call today for law enforcement to begin cracking down on these establishments. Until there are teeth in the laws forbidding them and penalties that dwarf the potential profits, then trying to rid the county of these gaming machines is like drinking water with a fork. And there are some really bad guys out there who need rounding up.

But if our local law enforcement agencies want to get serious about enforcing the laws, finding these establishments isn’t difficult. Ask just about anyone and they can tell you where they can be found.

Individual establishments can be bothered enough to be put out of business, most likely temporarily. But the industry will continue to thrive in a county where hope can be found by stuffing quarters into a machine.