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No Though operators in Nevada successfully dodged a bill that would’ve imposed six percent tax on gross receipts, the state general assembly made sure they wouldn’t escape the session unscathed. Leading the fight against the gross receipts tax were Doug Minter of Tip Top Amusement Co. in Carson City, Bill Britton of Mountain Coin in Las Vegas, and Marty Shumsky of Reno Games Sales in Reno. Minter, along with a lobbyistwho charged nothing for his services met with Bob Price, chairman of the assembly’s Tax Committee, and explained how disastrous the tax would be for operators. Their dire message succeeded in getting the bill quashed. There wasn’t much time to celebrate a victory, however, because the general assembly turned around and passed the first business tax in Nevada, Minter said. Businesses will, on a quarterly basis, be charged per the number of employees. The tax starts at a minimum of $100 per employee ($25 a quarter), with $400,000 being the max- imum that a business would have to pay. “I don’t like it, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the gross receipts tax,’’ Minter said. ‘‘Like every other state, Nevada wants to pick the pockets of businessmen to fund state employee pay raises. I tell you, I think people all over the country are getting fed up with this. I expect some sort of taxpayer revolt.” Minter, who's so far been unsuccessful in his attempts to establish a state association, has called a meeting in Las Vegas for Sept. 11. Since there aren’t that many coin-op amusement operators in Nevada, his idea is to have them join forces with vending machine operators for a joint state association. ‘““We’ve got to get together to give us some clout,”” Minter said. “‘I’m going to use this latest incident as an example of what we'll face year after year from state government. We need to be better prepared to fight these taxation bills. The majority of operators didn’t know about the gross receipts tax.’’ Ansky joins U.S. Games Res fe LTE In a down-to-the-wire vote, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 3151 to ban gray area games in the state, thus paving the way for a vendor-run video lottery program administered by the Oregon Lottery. Two years ago the Lottery gained the power to add video lottery to its product offerings, but there were no provisions to outlaw the questionable games. The bill had been going along smoothly until mid-June, when opposition surfaced to a clause that called for three percent of the net game proceeds (from a subsequent video lottery) to be used to treat ‘‘addictive behavior.” The measure is now in the hands of Gov. Barbara Roberts, who has expressed concerns about illegal gambling in the state. If signed into law, Oregon would then become the third state to initiate a video lottery program that is a partnership of the state and the private sector. It would involve a dedicated phone system instead of a dialup system. After six months of intense lobbying, grass-roots campaigning, public hearings, and informative presentations to legislators, the Maine Gaming Association (300 members strong) has been unable to obtain passage of an amendment to the state’s gambling statutes that would legalize video gaming. MGA members and those of Maine’s hospitality industry are disappointed that the measure did not pass. The amendment would have allowed placement of video credit games in agecontrolled establishments with a license to sell liquor for consumption on the premises. Modeled after South Dakota legislation, the bill called for a central computer system and a limit of three machines per location. There was sufficient support in the House and Senate but Gov. Jock McKernan was not in director David Kerry, ‘‘There will be a renewed effort in the next regular or special session, which may occur as early as October. It is now a question of convincing the governor. We will continue to communicate with the governor’s staff in the hope of arriving at language that would make the measure acceptable.” Potential licensees are concerned with new tax burdens as part of this year’s budget and many face serious financial problems without a new non- favor. Like many other states, Maine has been beset by financial 5 Industry veteran Mort Ansky (r), formerly of Merit Industries and Kramer Mfg., has become senior vice president for sales and marketing at U.S. Games. He's pictured here by the new Pot-O-Gold with U.S. Games president Mike Pace, who said, ““After locking horns for 10 years, it’s nice to get Mort on our side. He's going to be a great asset to the company.” PLAY METER 12 AUGUST 1991 woes; the end of the legislative session (July 10) was marked by budget package difficulties, which may have eclipsed this issue. According to MGA executive alcohol based revenue source, like video lottery, to help pay the bills. Said Dick Davies, vice president of Public Policy Associates and chief lobbyist for MGA, “‘Our efforts to enact video lottery legislation have moved ahead this year much faster than anyone expected. In other states that have approved similar proposals it has taken two to three years to get as far as we have progressed in just six months. Our support in the Legislature remains strong and we are preparing for a final push to success in the next few months. ”’