Voluntary participation tops threshold to start electronic monitoring in Montana

Thursday, Aug. 17, 2000 | 9:58 a.m.

The new voluntary system the Legislature approved last year required participation of at least 70 percent of the eligible video gambling machines in the state before the state could start it.

Mazurek said Wednesday the state has commitments from operators of 6,426 machines, about 100 more than 70 percent of the eligible machines in the state - those that can be retrofitted to hook up to the electronic system. About 5,000 cannot.

Mazurek said he expects more owners to sign on as the system is developed.

The automatic electronic monitoring will track the revenue and taxes for each machine.

"I've always believed the merits of this system will sell itself," Mazurek said. "Market forces will drive people to this system because it makes things so much easier for them."

Mazurek said his Gambling Control Division will begin testing the system and hopes to gave it installed in 50 taverns or casinos by the end of the year and 600 sites by mid-2001.

"I'm anxious to plug this in," he said. "We've worked long and hard, together with the industry, for this to become a reality. Even though it won't be complete when I leave office, it will simply be a matter of making the rest of the connections."

Mazurek's term ends in January. He was ineligible to run again because of term limits, and his bid for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination failed.

The electronic system will replace a cumbersome system of manually checking the printed records of each machine. State officials said they could not be sure the records were accurate and that operators were paying the appropriate amount of taxes.

"I think we're all pretty tickled with it," said Rich Miller, executive director of the Montana Gambling Industry Association. "I think we all would have liked to see it happen more quickly, but given the logistics we're pretty pleased to have it done."

Mark Staples, a Helena attorney who represents the Montana Tavern Association, said the voluntary system allows owners of machines that can't be retrofitted to keep using them. Otherwise, he said, those machines would have been put out of business.

He and others predicted the older machines would be phased out and replaced by machines that will accept the electronic system.

"It will take some time, but the process is in motion," Staples said. "This is the first state that's ever made a conversion from a manual check system to a comprehensive electronic system."

Updating the software on an eligible machine costs about $600, industry spokesmen said. Owners get a $250 credit for each machine to offset the cost.