Play Meter

From the Editor The tacts, mam, iust the tacts w Valerie Cognevich Editor PLAY METER hen we finish up a state of the industry report, we'll often speculate about what we think will happen the following year. Last year we did just that, and some things showed that we were right on the money; others perhaps went in a different direction. Now here we are again presenting our state of the industry report that is asked for and quoted more than any other article we do. We tried to estimate how many calls we get asking for information concerning the industry, and we couldn't even take a stab at it; the number is overwhelming. In her editorial this month, Bonnie talks about some of the numerous calls we get each week. I'd have to say that each of us in editorial average one call a day, five per week, over 20 a month. We work hard on this survey and have to thank all of you (about 250) who took the time to honestly tell us what's going on in your businesses so we can fairly assess what's going on in our coin machine business. We got responses from every single state with the exception of Rhode Island (go figure), which made us very happy. For the record, the most responses came from California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Alabama, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Texas. The completed survey questions show how operators vary in many aspects. But it's precisely those differences that make this survey so vital. We can see that some operators have thousands of games on lo8 cation, while some have modest numbers. But each has a little piece of the industry puzzle. The survey made it clear that the FEC trend is continuing. While 3 5 percent of our respondents said that they are operating one or more FECs, another 11 percent noted that they plan to in the near future. Nearly half those filling out the survey said an FEC had opened in their area within the past year! There are also some other findings worth looking at: the number of video games on location is dipping, but that's certainly not unexpected. The revenue gap between dedicated and kits continues to widen. What's surprising though is that only about half of the operators claim they are dissatisfied with the equipment being offered. Surprising only because it seems that it's always a major complaint among operators. Video gaming, legal or otherwise, dominates earnings figures. Is it any wonder that many are willing to take a risk in operating the equipment when average weekly grosses climb to four times what the average video game takes in? In fact, almost half said that a ban on gray area games would significantly affect their businesses. And speaking of gaming, a whopping 6 6 percent said they'd like to see legalized gaming in their states. These are only a few tidbits of information taken from this year's state of the industry report. There are facts and figures on video games, pinball, jukeboxes, pool, darts, shuffleboards, air hockey, foosball, gaming, redemption, cigarette vending, and kiddie rides. I know you are anxious to turn to the first page of the report and begin soaking up all the details. Enjoy! • JANUARY 1996