nEWS BRIEFS
au Dawn Adorno
The AMOA Mid - Year Board of Directors meeting was held April 6 - 9
1n Biloxi, Mississi ppi . Althoug h the response to a s urv ey sent out
on cigarette vending wa s low, the Cigarette Committee recommended the
AMOA change its by - ~a ws to include cigarette vendors . This recommen -
dation will be taken to a full membership vot e at the 1983 Expo in
New Orleans in October . Also , John Knox of Alaska was elected as a
new member of the board, f illing a position vacated by Van Myers wh o
resigned . Don Van Brackel was appointed to serve the remainder of
Wayne Hesch ' s unexpired term on the Past Presidents ' Council ......... .
Centuri began an initial shipment of its Gyruss games on May 19 .
A delay in receiv ing the games ' sound boards from Japan held up the
company ' s shipments . Centuri h as a back order of 2 , 800 Gyruss games.
Chuck E . Cheese Pizza Time Theatre ranked third in the 1983
Inc . 100 -- Inc . magazine ' s annual ranking of the fastest growing p ub-
licly held smaller U. S . companies . Pizza Time Th eatre ' s sales mul -
tiplied 285 times in the past five years , a 28 , 430 percent increase .
To be included in the Inc . 100 , companies must be independent , p ub-
licly he ld corporations with operating sales histories of at least
fi ve years . The companies must also hav e had sales of at least
$100 , 000, but less than $25 million in 1978 .. .... .... . ......... . .... . .
Viacom Enterprises , owner of Showtime , has started a weekly pro -
gram t hat reviews new home and arcade games . The syndicated program
will be sold to indepe n dent stations for weekend showin gs ......... . .. .
Fort y operators f illed t h e city council chambers in Springfield ,
Mass achuse tts , to oppose reg u lations proposed in April on vid eo games .
Issues invo l v ed include a proposed increase in machine licensing fees ,
a controversial Sund ay entertainment licensing fee , and a machine
limit in bars and restaurants . Russ Mawdsley , director of the state
association and former AMOA president , said that the group is not
opposed to regulations, as long as they are reasonable . Mawdsley
and a state association attorney have compiled a list of acceptable
regulations to set before the Springfield licensing committee . The
Sp ringfield City Council has tentatively set meetin gs to hear oppon -
ents and proponents of the regulations fo r June.
Sumn er Segall , pres -
ident of the Coin Machine Association of New England , noted that " in
order to survive, operators have to be unified . They have to realize
they can ' t do it alone today . " . . ...... . ........... . .............. . .. . .
A suit to have a Daly City , California , ordinance declared uncon -
stitutional is still pe nd i n g . The ordinance , passed in May , 1982,
requires operators to pay a $200 per machine per year fee in addition
to an already existing gross receipts tax . An important issue , accord -
ing to Britt Habeggar , the plai nti ffs ' attorney, is whether Daly City ,
a general law city, is legally entitled to impose such a fee . Accord -
ing to the San Mateo Times , it is not clear whether a California law
passed in January overr1des a 1972 statute which prohibited general
law cities from taxing coin - op machines . ..... . . . ... .. . .. . .. . . ... . .... .
94
PLAY METER. July 1, 1983