Gaming revenues remain stagnant
By Paul Tash
Montana Tavern Times
It was more of the same for the state's gaming industry last quarter, as video gaming machine tax revenues remained stagnant for the sixth consecutive quarter.
VGM revenues for the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2011 that ended March 31 totaled $12,164,000, down .8 percent from a year ago ($12,257,000) and up just .1 percent from second quarter FY11 ($12,148,000), according to preliminary figures provided by the Gambling Control Division.
The recent third quarter total is down nearly 22 percent from the $15.6 million reported in the third quarter two years ago, about the time the recession was hitting and six months before the statewide smoking ban went into effect.
Though industry observers are no doubt thankful the hemorrhaging has stopped in the last year and a half, they're disappointed a rebound has not begun.
“I thought it was going to be a little better,” said Neil Peterson, Gaming Industry Association executive director, who added that the “terrible weather” last quarter didn't help.
“At least it didn't go down,” he said.
Peterson was hopeful that next quarter will show improvement – fourth quarter is traditionally the best of the year.
The .08 percent decline from third quarter FY10 marks the eighth consecutive quarter that revenues have fallen year-over-year.
(Note: Year-over-year is the term used to compare the current quarter with the same quarter in the previous fiscal year. Quarter-over-quarter is the term used to compare a quarter's results to those in the preceding quarter.)
Of the state's seven largest counties, only Lewis and Clark enjoyed an increase over the previous year, moving up 2.9 percent to $907,553 from $881,950.
Silver Bow County suffered the greatest decline year-over-year of the seven largest counties, with revenues down 7.9 percent to $713,001 from the previous year of $773,952. The others are:
• Gallatin, declining1.4 percent to $662,532 from $671,872;
• Yellowstone, falling 1.9 percent to $2,401,866 from $2,448,214;
• Missoula County, dropping 2.5 percent to $1,223,551 from $1,254,510;
• Cascade, falling 3 percent to $1,318,503 from $1,358,988;
• Flathead, declining 3.7 percent to $997,134 from $1,035,494.
Examining larger cities specifically, Columbia Falls showed the strongest improvement year-over-year third quarter, experiencing a 24.8 percent gain to $124,844 from $100,019. But that city's gaming revenues were down 7 percent from the second quarter of this fiscal year.
Sidney also performed well year-over-year last quarter, gaining 20.4 percent to $232,459 from $193,095. It also enjoyed a 3 percent gain from the previous quarter.
Miles City saw an increase of 13 percent year-over-year to $207,357 from $183,436, but it dropped about 12 percent from the second quarter.
The worst city performers included Havre, which fell 16.2 percent to $210,453 from $251,124 from last year; and Livingston, which fell 10.5 percent to $111,268 from $124,333 year-over-year.
See the accompanying graphs for the complete statistics.