Gaming tax collections static for first time
Pub Date: 12/1/2008
Video gambling tax collections for the first quater of Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 (July 1-September 30, 2008) grew just one-third of one percent, the smallest gain seen in years and an inauspicious beginning to the accounting year.
Tax collections for the period were $15,850,243 compared to $15,799,620 the same quarter the previous year, and $16,022,028 the previous quarter.
Gaming taxes have been growing fairly consistently in the 6 percent range for the last several years, though dipping to 4.36 percent in FY 2008.
Tax yield changes varied substantially from city-to-city and by county.
For example, first quarter collections compared to the same quarter one year ago were up 16 percent in Sidney, a hotbed of oil field activity, from $227,333 to $263,859.
On the other side of the ledger, collections declined 12.6 percent in Belgrade, from $245,258 to $214,348, and declined 5.46 percent in Bozeman, from $573,869 to $542,541.
Bozeman/Belgrade has boasted the strongest economic growth in the state for the past several years but has seen a significant slowdown in construction and other economic sectors lately.
Hamilton, a community that had been experiencing rampant growth, saw a decline of 4.84 percent, from $267,832 to $254,877. Kalispell, another area of booming development, was down 2.39 percent, from $672,258 to $656,200.
Even ever-solid Billings posted a small loss of 1.23 percent, going from $2,575,231 last year to $2,543,455 this year. Butte-Silver Bow slipped 1.02 percent from $920,032 to $910,693.
Yet Great Falls rebounded from a soft third and fourth quarter to notch a 5.84 percent first quarter increase, growing from $1,362,375 to $1,441,890.
Miles City saw robust growth of 9.06 percent, from $249,839 to $272,483.
Missoula posted a somewhat anemic 2.02 percent gain, from $1,321,440 to $1,348,130 while Helena was almost flat, up just .06 of a percent, from $871,720, to $871,758.
Other gainers were Dillon at 7.87 percent, Glendive up 3.52 percent, Havre increased 2.73 percent, Lewistown improved 3.41 percent, Livingston was up 2.63 percent and Whitefish was up 4.67 percent.
The popularity of live card games continues to slowly decline after substantial increases in 2005-2007, now down 10 tables to a total of 376 in the first quarter compared to last year. Live bingo and keno continues its decade-long slide, now down to 56 licenses compared to 63 in the same quarter one year ago.
During the first quarter, 17,306 video gaming machines received permits compared to 17,152 one year earlier. The Gambling Control Division of the Montana Department of Justice also stated 85 percent of permitted VGMs are reporting electronically via the state's new internet based system.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, December, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.