First quarter VGM collections up $793,528
Pub Date: 12/1/2007
Montana video gaminge machine (VGM) tax collections in the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, July-September 2007, were $15.78 million, up 5.29 percent or $793,528 from the same quarter one year ago, and up $438,427 from the previous quarter.
The last six years have been characterized by stability in the regulatory and tax spheres which is reflected in the tax numbers.
Tax collections–and the regulatory environment–had been quite volatile from 1994 to 2001 when the percentage gains fluctuated between 2.47 and 11.97 percent.
In the years 2002 through 2007, tax collections grew by 5.12, 5.56, 8.54, 6.59, 6.48 and 6.84 percent respectively.
As the Gambling Control Division focuses its energies on implementing the automated reporting system for the state's VGMs, some customary reports are lagging.
Tax collections broken out by cities and counties, for example, have not been available since January, 2007.
At the end of September, the VGM market share leader was Summit with 6,288 units in service and a 37.42 share followed by IGt with 4,589 machines and a 27.31 share.
Speilo holds down the number three spot with 2,520 machines and a 15 percent market share. Next is VLC, which was purchased by IGT, with 1,428 machines and 8.5 percent of the market.
Fleetwood is running 702 of its proprietary games for a 4.18 percent share and U1 now has 495 machines in service comprising a 2.95 percent share. American Gaming Technologies, rounding out the list of manufacturers licensed in Montana, has 83 machines permitted for a 0.49 percent share.
ther makes of machines, with their manufacturers long gone from active participation in this market, comprise increasingly smaller shares ranging from fewer than 200 units to just two as market forces and obsolescence winnows their numbers.
Operators agree a given machine's earnings power must be taken into account along with dozens of other factors such as customer volume, customer demographics, competitve considerations and more.
They also agree the key to maximizing location earnings is to develop an optimal mix of machines that best suits a given business and its clientele.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, December, 2007, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.