Video gambling numbers down

With many Montana manufacturing plants announcing cutbacks and tourist businesses buckling down for a bumpy ride this year, staying in business may be more of a gamble than ever before.

But what about the gambling business itself?

Tax collections from video-gambling machines have increased every year for the past decade, from a low of 2.47 percent growth in 2001 to a high of 8.54 percent in 2004.

But for the first time since 1999, quarterly tax collections may see an actual decline of about 4.5 percent, according to an article in the February issue of Montana Tavern Times.

The industry newspaper reports that acting Gambling Control Division administrator Rick Ask announced Jan. 24 that preliminary estimates put second-quarter video-gambling tax collections at $15.3 million, down from $16 million for the same period in 2008.

The state collected about $63.4 million from video gambling in 2008, an increase of about 4.3 percent over 2007. Collections have been growing in the 6-plus percent range every year since 2004.

A noticeable decline in video gambling began in October as Wall Street woes hit the news and federal bailouts were underway, according to Heidi Schmalz, chief financial officer for Century Gaming, Montana’s largest video gambling vendor.

Kent Frampton, who has interests in gambling establishments in Whitefish, Kalispell, Missoula and Helena, told the trade journal that business for him in the aggregate was down about 4-5 percent.

But he notes that each location’s distinct economy affects his video gambling take in the second quarter — the ski season in Whitefish and Kalispell, the new attendance record at the University of Montana in Missoula, and the population surge in Helena when the Legislature convenes.