By Marc Wass, President
Gaming Industry Association It has been said that a number of our presidents--Harry Truman is a good example--have had to "grow into their jobs."
Well, there's no doubt in my mind I'm one of those who have some growing to do in order to fill the very big shoes of my predecessors.
At the last annual meeting of the Gaming Industry Association of Montana, I was elected the organization's president. It is certainly an honor, but a little daunting, too, knowing that I succeed the likes of Steve Arntzen, John Tooke, Kent Frampton and Rich Miller as well as others of considerable experience, intellect, success and stature in the gaming business.
I trust these individuals will be extraordinary mentors for me, just as they had their own fine mentors.
From my perspective, we are in very interesting times in the Montana gaming business. We are seeing significant changes. These are not revolutionary in nature, but rather are evolutionary, though that evolution seems to be occurring at an increasing velocity largely due to technology as well as other factors.
Many in the business have told me about the good ol' days in the early 1990s as a time of great development and double-digit annual growth. Just as many will remember (myself included) the latter part of that decade and even the early part of this one as a period of industry maturation.
New games and platforms that came down the pipeline were pretty few and far between. Our customers were plainly becoming bored with much of the "stale" entertainment we had to offer. Tax collections, which for us are a strong business barometer, were leveling off at best.
Through the hard work of many industry people and at the regulatory agencies, we passed legislation and adopted administrative rules that will allow Montana-licensed manufacturers to utilize emerging technologies and innovative game concepts. It feels good to now be able to participate in the technological and game design advances that had been occurring in many other jurisdictions around the country and worldwide.
Recently we have been enjoying a new round of world-class game development from our own Montana based companies--such as Summit Gaming, American Gaming and Fleetwood--as well as from world heavyweights like IGT with its VLC division, and GTECH/Spielo.
Other game manufacturers and developers are near rolling out new software and hardware and still more companies, like Las Vegas Gaming Inc., have become licensed and are reintroducing a new live keno system and are doing some of their first installations in the state.
New, entertaining bonus games are being incorporated into the latest software chip sets and the legislature has allowed a few new varieties of electronic poker to liven up what seemed to be a stagnating segment of the market.
The now improved choices we have when it comes to games--and the improved entertainment yield of those games--is exciting to both operators and players. That excitement, coupled with hot competition, has revitalized gaming revenues and in turn has created healthy increases in tax revenues.
Add to the mix the emergence of new gaming route vendors who are aggressively stimulating competition in that sector. Further, the resurgence of live poker due to televised Texas Hold 'Em tournaments, and as previously noted, new technological innovations in live keno (being installed in my location as I write), represent more evidence of a positive operating environment.
Not that there aren't challenges on the horizon, such as dealing with a smoking ban that is to take effect in 2009. But if the past is any indication, I expect the 1,700 licensed business owners and their associations to craft constructive solutions similar to what we've seen implemented so many times in the past. You can count on me to work personally, and on behalf of GIA, to always seek the answers to these problems.
Undeniably, regulation in the state has always been strict and that's as it should be. In honesty, in the early years, sometimes regulation surpassed strict and became stifling. In more recent years, however, we have seen the evolution of a regulatory attitude I would characterize as more common sense and reasonable.
All these factors and more lead me to believe that, if we are left alone, we will continue to provide a growing and reliable tax revenue stream for the state, good jobs for 25,000 Montanans and a fair return on investment for the risk-taking entrepreneurs who own and operate these legal and well-regulated small businesses.
I think the future is bright; perhaps brighter than it has ever been for both licensees and all residents of our state.
I hope we will all look back at these years and conclude this was a "Golden Age." It's probably just plain old good luck that my term as GIA president is occurring now, during these relatively good times.
I will strive to serve all in the industry well, and finish my term with the industry in as good--or better--shape than I found it.
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, August, 2005, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.