Play Meter

(Continuedjrompage 14)
company staff has to be checked by security, has to
be licensed by the gaming board, has to carry an
identity card which tells the brewer or hi licensee
that he i part of the organization. You can have no
criminal record, otherwise you could not be
employed by an operator :
And here again I
welcome the gaming board because they have
effectively controlled or have removed from our
industry the rather unpleasant inference that we
are all a lot of bandits.
PLA Y METER: Getting back to the commission
arrangements, if we may. How do they differ
between gaming machines and machines for
amu ement?
GROOM: A gaming machine or a fruit machine, as
you would know it i called over here amusement-
with -prize machine. The gaming board will make a
decree on the amount of payout. They will decide
what sort or jackpot if any is allowed.
PLA Y METER: What is the most you can win on a
jackpot?
GROOM: 40 pence. Thi is only in licen ed
premi es. In clubs it is a very different tate of
affairs.
PLAY METER: Club , meaning gambling ca inos?
GROOM: Clubs, meaning working mens club or
club with member hip only. I don't know too much
about that ide . You ee 95 per cent of our bu ine
i with the licen e trade. We are not really in the
club machine bu iness .
PLA Y METER: So the maximum jackpot allowed
in a tandard pub is 40 pence . What i the play
price?
GROOM: 5 Pence or 2112 pence.
GROOM: 5 pence or 2 1/2 pence .
PLAY METER: That i not much of a return i it?
GROOM: The gaming board allows a feature on the
machine which enable you once you have won to
play again and you could double it or you could
triple it . You could get up to five, six or even
time as much, purely on a 50 -50 chance.
PLAY METER: What limit do they impo e on the
payout percentage on fruit machines?
GROOM: On A WP machines, a coin or token which
can be reimbursed for goods over the counter.
PLAY METER: It doe n't take a coin then?
GROOM: It will payout a coin or a token or a
mixture.
PLA Y METER: And they can redeem the token
for prizes?
GROOM: That i right.
PLA Y METER: What is the allowable pe rcentag
of payout on tho e types of machines?
GROOM: The gaming board -hasn't actually tated
any particular point , but in general it i
recommended that most operator will work on a
pe rce ntage of payout between 75 to 85 per cent.
PLAY METER: But it is not regulated by law .
GROOM: It doe not have to be tated on t he
machine what the payout is, but with a club
machine, which i a ca h machine, by law it ha to
be stated on the machine what the percentage
payo ut i .
PLAY METER: How do they keep controls on that?
How do they keep the guy hone t, in other word ?
GROOM: The gaming board employs a number of
inspectors who will check machines.
46
PLAY METER: Let's get back to commiSSlOns.
How do you plit up the money? Do you go every
week, ,do you go once a week? Or do you go more
often than that?
GROOM: Again now, we are talking about fruit
machine or A WP's in licens ed premi e .
ollection are made weekly or fortnightly. By
gaming board law, we are only able to rent
machine to th lice n ee or to the brewer. Here you
will find it omewhat difficult because as against the
American y tern, we have here a sy tern of
ma naged hou e and tenanted houses.
Where they have managed hou es, the manager
may r eceive a com mi ion from the revenue from a
fruit machine. It depend entirely on hi own
policy, but by law we, the operator, can only
charge a fixed r ental.
PLA Y METER: Regardle of how much it take
in?
GROOM: Absolutely.
PLAY METER: That i why it is important for the
brewerie to hav e omeone to make s ure the
machine take in the most money po sible, right?
GROOM: It i putting the rig ht horse on t he right
cou r e in the right place. In the ca e of the tenant,
we, t he operator would get our rental and the
balance of revenue would be divided between the
brewer a nd hi tenant.
PLA Y METER: Ba ed on an arragnement t hey
have a lready mad .
GROOM: Ye , and thi varie .
PLA Y METER: Thi would be like an incentive for
the manager'?
GROOM: Well, it money.
PLAY METER: ure, but it is there. It' given to
him 0 that he will promote the play of t he game .
GROOM: Of cour e, he i a lot more intere ted in
the type of equipm nt upplied to him becau e he
tand to ben fit from the operation of the
machine.
PLA Y METER: What i the rental?
GROOM: The rental varie ,of cour e, with the typ
of machine he i upplied. Initially, one might ay
that the highe t rental machine i t he newe t
machine on th mark t, but not nece arily. There
ar many machine produced over her e and in the
tate which have very much more play appeal. A
two -year -old machine can atract much higher
r v nue becau e of it play appeal.
PLA Y METER: What determine the rental of an
A WP machine i act ually it purcha e price, rather
than the revenue'?
GROOM: I would ay the purchase pri and, of
cou r e, it newne . Then the r ental level i rapidly
Play appeal can be
fixed by it play appeal.
a e ed betw n on , two, or t hree month
becau of th revenue.
PLAY METER: I would imagine, al 0 that the
cometition would have omething to do with the
rental price?
GROOM: Every operator hope that they are going
to buy a machine that compete with th oppo ition.
PLAY METER: From a rental tandpoint, if he
want to beat the opposition, he's got to get a
mac hin e that i goi ng to produce more reve nue and
al 0 rent it at a lower cost?