$100 fee Pr·oposed
In Boston
Assn. Proposed N ~ Y.
Pin-Ball Amendments
English Coin men Still
Equipment-Starved
BOSTON-A proposal that a license fee
of $100 a year be assessed on pin ball and
other amusement devices in Boston was ad-
vanced by the City Council in substitution
for a suggestion by temporary mayor John
B. Hynes that an annual $25 fee be charged
for each machine.
Some of the Council members asserted
bluntly that their objective in advocating so
high a license fee is to drive pin ball out of
the Hub by making it unprofitable to op-
erate them.
Competent legal authorities, however, ex-
pressed doubt that a $100 fee would be
valid, pointing out that the city government
under the law cannot impose a new tax on
the machines and that the license fee can
only be as great as the approximate cost of
supervising and regulating their operation.
On the recommendation of Police Com-
missioner Thomas F. Sullivan, Mayor Hynes
had requested the enactment of a new ordi-
nance providing for a $25 license fee as a
means of supervising and regulating the
operation of the machines.
At a conference with a committee of
councillors, the Mayor asserted he had no
objection to a higher license charge as long
as it was not so great as to be considered a
tax and thus open the way to having it de-
clared invalid by the courts.
NEW YORK-In line with its current
campaign to bring pin ball back to New
York City, the Associated Amusement Ma-
chine Operators of New York (AAMONY)
has proposed amendments to a municipal
licensing bill which are designed to boost
fees by 400,000.
Origi nal bill, pigeonholed in the City
Council since its introduction last Febru-
ary, calls for distributors and jobbers of
the machines to pay license fees of $1,000
per year, while operators would be charged
$250 annually. The new AAMONY amend-
ments would add a $5 inspection stamp re-
quirement for each machine, a $10 fee per
machine prior to installation, and a $10
charge for each location. Estimates of the
revenue yield which might be obtained
by the city under such a licensing system
run as high as $1,250,000.
AAMONY's license proposal is part of
its drive to win the city's approval for a
pin ball revival. Games have been barred
here since 1941, when the La Guardia ad-
ministration won court decisions banning
machines which offered free plays as
"readily adaptable to gambling". In June
of this year, the AAMONY invited a court
test of the matter by arranging for the po-
lice to seize two games, a Kilroy (Chicago
Coin Machine Co.) and a Lucky Star (D.
Gottlieb & Co.). Legal issue raised was
whether novelty games violate Sec. 982 of
the state penal code dealing with gambling.
The case was heard here recently in Spe-
cial Sessions Court, but resulted in a dis-
missal.
The proposed licensing plan would take
the question out of police jurisdiction, and
make the city Department of Licenses re-
sponsible for determining wbether or not a
particular pin ball model is a gambling
device. AAMONY claims to represent 850
operators, who hope to place some 16,000
novelty pin ball machines on location
around the city.
Maior coin games in operation here are
"roll down" which were given the green
light a few months back and now number
around 4,000, mainly in tavern sites.
AAMONY is headed by Joe Hahnin, presi-
dent, and Joe Hirsh, chairman of the
board. A distributor's organization has also
been formed, known as the Coin Machine
Distributors of ew York, Inc.
LONDON - The English coin machine
trade continues to look with longing eyes
at the American Coin Machine Industry.
While American manufacturers turn out
more . and more machines, English manu·
facturers are practically prohibited from
building coin machine equipment because
of government regulations.
The English government has declared
that all production must be for export, and
only such production is "essential." The
situation is in many respects similar to pro-
duction conditions during the war years.
Firms whose products are not contributing
to the export drive, whose products do not
find a large overseas market, are deprived
of supplies and materials.
The shut-off of materials quickly forces
a firm to discharge its employees. When
the discharged workers apply to their labor
offices they are offered employment only in
essential industries. While there is no of-
ficial regimentation of labor, the system
effectively forces workers out of non-essen-
tial and into industries engaged in manu-
facturing export products.
The important automobile industry was
hard hit by a recent decision of the Minister
of Supply that automobiles being built by
several manufacturers were of no value to
the export drive. Steel allocations to these
manufacturers were cut off and production
ceased immediately. With such a condi-
tion, the Coin Machine Industry has little
immediate prospect of revival.
Coin machine manufacturers are hope-
ful of being able to adapt themselves to
these conditions by building some of the
products for which there is a good export
market, just as they adapted them selves
to military production during the war.
However, there is no assurance that such
manufacturers will obtain essential sup-
plies. Even if new coin machine equipment
is built, there is slim chance that any of
it will reach machine-starved English coin-
men.
Production difficulties are well illustrated
by the case of one coin machine manufac-
turer who had been active in war work and
who decided, when peace came, to con-
tinue building component parts for agri-
cultural equipment. Although this equip-
ment was considered far more essential
than coin machines, the manufacturer has
been seriously handicapped by inability to
obtain enough steel.
The Amusement Trades Association,
which represents the Coin Machine Indus-
try, was practically dormant from 1939
until the end of the war, but is once more
taking an active interest in sponsoring the
Industry. The association is seeking means
to help the Industry revive and get back
to its pre-war statu.
Bally for the Irish
CHICAGO-If there were 10 Bally games
in every town bearing the Bally monicker,
what a coinman's wonderland Northern Ire-
land would be! Because in that section there
are no less than 900 towns with "Bally" in
their names, i. e., Ballycoo, Ballyleg, Bally-
hose, and Ballymoney.
Consistent Money-Maker
The NEW A. B. T.
CHALLENGER
1 c and 5c Play
Mr •. Employer:
Why do you not give you r em-
ployees the consideration they de-
serve, since it costs you nothing?
The most popular Skill Counte r
Game ever made. For every
location. Players can't resist
shooting Army type pistols.
They challenge each other to
constant play and they bring
you enormous returns.
$65 .. 00 Each
of 25 ___ ............. ______ $60.00
of 50 ... _._ .. __ .. __ ........ 55.00
of 100 ........ __ ... __ ....... 50.00
--SEE--
The 1% State Unemployment deduction
that you take from their salaries and
send to the State does nOt buy them
as much u nemployment Disability Bene-
fit as you can obtain by purchasing a
regular insurance plan with a Private
Insurance Carrier.
This is not sales talk, but a fact-si nce
the law provides that no private insur-
ance company plan complies with the
law unless it gjves better protection than
the state at the sa1ne cost.
The Association and Group Insurance
Bureau will gladly assist you to make
the change over withot# charge by tele-
phon ing them or dropping them a note
at
ZEIGLER INS. AGENCY, Inc.
541 South Spring Street
Michigan 0961
ALL INSURANCE and BOND LINES
10
Mich. Sales Tax
Reflects Upsurge
DETROIT-There is no better barometer
of the skyrocketing of business in Michi-
gan than the monthly sales tax report. The
October report, just released, shows sales
tax collections for the four months of the
new fiscal year total $60,662,987. This com-
pares with collections last year for the
sa me period of $50,127,071.
The figure for October was $15,986,908,
which compared to 2,980,954 for October,
1946.
Meanwhile the cigarette tax continues to
pour money into the state treasury's coffers.
Originally expected to give the state about
$1,500,000 a month, on the basis of 3 cents
a pack tax, it actually produced $1,939,544
in October, Revenue Commissioner Louis
M. Nims reported.
COIN MACHINE REVIEW