Ask reminds VGM owners of record requirements
By Rick Ask
Acting Administrator
Gambling Control Division
This is my first article as the Acting Administrator of the Gambling Control Division and I want to thank editor and publisher Cole Boehler and the
Montana Tavern Times for the opportunity to communicate with our licensees.
Articles written by Gambling Control Division administrators over the years have served the great purpose of getting the word out on many important topics to our licensees and I hope to continue that tradition. In this article I would like to focus on video gambling machine record keeping.
The Division recently finished testing the new internet based video gambling machine tax reporting system. Video gambling machines were randomly selected and owners contacted and asked to produce machine records. Auditors were sent to the field to test/audit the new system, not the machine owners, even though it may not have seemed like it to those who were asked to help.
Not surprisingly, the system passed with flying colors. However, the auditors reported what appeared to be a trend of machine owners not always maintaining adequate records. In some cases machine owners explained that because they were reporting meters and paying taxes on the new system they didn’t think they had to keep certain records anymore. The following list is a reminder of what is still required.
1. Audit tapes or the record of lifetime audit and accounting tickets and ticket vouchers must be saved. Machine owners must also remember to print a lifetime audit ticket at lest once every 14 days.
2. Readings of each machine’s mechanical meters must be recorded at least once every two weeks (14 days).
3. Documentation of cash counted from the machines or licensed location for the same period as the mechanical meters must also be maintained.
4. Finally, machine owners must perform and maintain a record of a three-way reconciliation of the actual cash count and the total cash activity reflected by both the electronic meters (tape record) and mechanical meters for the same period.
5. Those still reporting manually must maintain these tapes for 12 quarters. Those reporting meters and paying taxes on the new system utilizing either a Tier I or Tier II reporting system, including those entering meter data using the Division’s web entry system, must maintain the records for only four quarters.
With the installation of the new tax reporting system the Division has been able to reduce the length of time these records are required to be maintained from 12 quarters to four.
The Division also plans to work with the industry in developing other improvements to make the reconciliation process easier. Rules just now being adopted will introduce a new data storage device that when utilized in machines will allow further refinement of record requirements—more on that topic in next month’s article.
I hope these reminders are helpful. If you have any questions regarding machine records or any other gambling matter, feel free to contact me at 406-444-1971.
[i]Source: The Montana Tavern Times, January, 2009, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.[/i]