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PROVO — You may have noticed a new gaming machine at your corner gas station, and it may look like something out of Las Vegas to you. Insert cash, push a button, watch numbers or symbols spin.

The company that owns the games says it's a legal sweepstakes. Intermountain Vending told KSL Investigators the game displays you see at the local convenience store are for amusement and have no bearing on winning a cash prize.

"If you want to talk about that, it's not gambling. Utah has a — our Legislature has a very specific definition of what is and what isn't gambling. And the activity that this gift card kiosk provides is not gambling," said Stanford Graham, business director for Intermountain Vending.

Graham went on to explain the machines offer customers who want to enter the sweepstakes free play and cash play options. And, for every dollar a customer spends the machine dispenses a gift card for an equal amount. The gift card can be used on a website toward the purchase of merchandise.

Based on a viewer's concerns about how the games operate and his own experience trying to redeem gift cards for merchandise, KSL Investigators spent time undercover at gas stations that have the machines.

Reporter Debbie Dujanovic discovered police departments in two cities are investigating.

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