For years, critics have warned that political donations from Missouri's unlicensed video gaming industry to its elected leaders make it difficult for the state to rein in the games, which operate with impunity because the Legislature refuses to touch them. Now those donations have gotten Missouri's top law enforcement official out of the industry's way — at least, that's sure what it looks like when unelected Attorney General Andrew Bailey withdraws from representing the state in a legal battle with the industry. His withdrawal is apparently because the industry's political contributions to him create the appearance of, and probably an actual, conflict of interest.

At gas stations and other venues around Missouri, thousands of video gaming machines take in money from patrons hoping to win more, and who sometimes do. Yet the games pay no Missouri gaming tax and aren't regulated by the state because, the owners claim with a straight face, that it isn't gambling — and Missouri's leaders flush with donations from the industry have refused to call them out.

As a measure of just how brazen these operations are, two of them are suing to prevent the Missouri Highway Patrol from seizing the machines as illegal gambling. Bailey, as Missouri's attorney general, is obligated to defend the state against that suit. Yet last week, attorneys from Bailey's office withdrew from the case and have been replaced by attorneys from a private firm hired at taxpayer expense.

Bailey's office was vague about the reason, stating: "Our office followed our longstanding practice of retaining conflict counsel to avoid any appearance of impropriety."

What appearance of impropriety? As the Post-Dispatch's Jack Suntrup reports, there's a big one: more than $25,000 in political donations to Bailey that are traceable back to either plaintiffs in the suit or their high-powered lobbyist, former Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley.

Bailey's office is correct to invoke the conflict of interest reference — but it's not a solution to keep the campaign money from an arguably illegal industry. The solution is to return the donations, as Bailey's predecessor once did.

Instead, he's sticking the taxpayers with the bill for private attorneys to do his office's job. These are the same taxpayers, remember, who are already being ripped off by the video gaming industry because they don't pay state gaming taxes as the casinos do. This isn't the first time Bailey has passed on carrying out his duties in relation to these generous gaming operators.

His responsibilities include consumer protection, which is his cynical excuse for his legal attack on transgender medical treatment. Yet he hasn't bothered to protect consumers who might very well be getting ripped off by these unregulated gaming machines.

It's yet another example of how Missouri's ruling Republicans are working for just two constituencies: big-money industries and the culture warriors of the extreme right. Regular Missouri taxpayers apparently aren't worth betting on.

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