Automated reporting getting traction under Arvish
Pub Date: 11/1/2005
By Paul F. Vang
If all goes well, by this time next year Montana s system of gaming machine data reporting, now a paper-based and labor-intensive process, will go to an internet-based system of filing reports which track machine play and, not incidentally, compute gaming taxes owed the state.
As reported in the October issue of Montana Tavern Times, the Gambling Control Division of the Department of Justice hired Al Arvish, a veteran software developer and information technology manager, with the current title of IT Project Manager, to head up the conversion process.
Currently, the reporting process is paper based. Local gaming operators complete reports at the end of each calendar quarter and send the data to the state. At the state level, those reports are manually entered into the Gambling Control Division s computer data-base system.
As well as being labor intensive, Arvish says that there are a lot of problems with the process, including frequent desk audits of reports, mathematical errors and out-of-balance meters.
The whole concept of the redesign is to create a win-win system for everybody, Arvish says. It s a whole paradigm shift, he adds.
The state will win because the manual process will be largely eliminated. We ll be able to permit new machines without sending forms through the mail. Our field agents, equipped with a Blackberry (or similar device) can visit a tavern or casino and be able to verify all the machines in an establishment," he says.
For the tavern owner/gaming operator, we ll be able to speed up the machine permitting process. Currently, operators mail in the paperwork for new machines. Here in GCD we process them on the same day and get them out.
"Still, we occasionally see operators from Billings, for example, charter a plane to Helena to hand-carry the paperwork and go home with it that day (in order that the machines won't have to be shut down). With the new system, we ll be able to go to a web-based permitting process.
On the taxing side, Arvish reiterates the benefits of collecting data without manual entry. He notes that under the current system some larger operators do collect and report data electronically, but with the current state system, the reports end up being entered manually, though it s a more streamlined process in that the state set up the file formats.
What we hope, Arvish says, is that the software manufacturers will come up with a cost-efficient system to capture all the data from the local machines.
He adds that he previously worked as a consultant to Native American casinos and that all of their tracking and reporting is done electronically.
Arvish envisions a simplified reporting process that simply needs access to an internet connection.
I talked to a tavern operator in the Great Falls area. He said he has never operated a computer, but he said he d have his wife teach him to access the internet so he could enter the data, Arvish relates.
If they didn t have a computer connected to the internet, they could go to a local library or other facility to hook into the net, he says. Arvish notes that while reporting will be done over the internet, access to data will not be available to unauthorized people cruising the internet.
Still, Arvish concedes that some operators may never do web-based reporting.
They won't be forced into doing it. They ll still be able to shuffle paper if desired.
We re still in the development phase of the project, Arvish said. We don t yet have a vendor contract, but we expect that to happen in October. We re also working in partnership with the Department of Revenue as we develop our requirements.
We anticipate that we ll be able to start beta testing of the process beginning with the July 2006 quarter. We ll go with a double reporting system at first to verify the beta data.
If all goes well, full implementation could start as soon as October 2006, though he adds, January 2007 is more likely.
Arvish predicts that the new system will have an immediate and significant impact. We ve been talking to Montana s 10 largest (route) operators and they are very interested. These 10 operators account for over 50 percent of our business.
Taking a look back, Arvish noted a previous proposal of several years ago to have all gaming machines linked to the State.
That met a lot of resistance from the industry," he recounts. "Also, the vendor which the state been talking to about all this failed to come up with a system. In the new system, we should be able to get a lot of the same quality of information envisioned in the prior proposal.
Nevertheless, Arvish says of the new system, We ll leave it up to the taverns on how to do it.
While there is a lot of work to be done before any new reporting system gets implemented, Arvish refers to a favorite book, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by management expert John Maxwell.
According to the Law of the Locomotive, It's really hard to get it going, but once started it s really hard to stop.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, Nov. 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.