Gambling used to be so illegal in the US that it used its global Internet jurisdiction to shut down poker companies located outside the US.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Scheinberg

And yet every bar I go to, as far back as I can remember, has slot machines and somehow that doesn't count? Even gas stations. Never understood this.

Once you left Nevada, I doubt you saw the same thing. If I want to see a slot machine in Washington, I have to go to a casino on a native reservation.

I'm in the Midwest. They say "for amusement only" but they all pay out.

That is very much state by state in the usa. My state never had slots in gas stations or bars.

This sounds like Nevada. I remember arriving in the Reno airport for the first time and being astounded that there were so many slot machines around. Even CVS had slot machines!

It's wild, first thing you encounter when you come off the plane is just rows and rows of slot machines. Jarring

Nope, Midwest.

I never saw this in Pennsylvania until like 4 years ago and now they're everywhere. Most people I know hate them.

Scale.