Play Meter

COIN-OP NEWS south Dakota pulls plug in the summer of video lottery discontent The unthinkable has happened. Nearly 8,000 video lottery terminals in South Dakota were shut down at 3 p .m. on Fri. , Aug. 12 after the Supreme Court issued notification a mere 48 hours in advance. The decision came on the heels of the Court's June 22 ruling that declared video lottery unconstitutional. As Play Meter reported last month, Gov. Walter Miller called a special session on July 11 to address the situation. At that time , legislators d ecided to place an amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot to give voters the opportunity to decide the issue by changing the Constitution. The Constitution was amended in 1986 to allow lotteries, then voters approved video lottery in 1989 and again in 1992. After the special session it was a matter of waiting for the other shoe to fall : would the Court shut down the games or let them operate until November? It was a day-to-day vigil until Aug. 10 when the Court announced the imminent shutdown, refusing to either rehear the case or delay implementing the June ruling. PLAY METER Said South Dakota Amusement and Vending Association president Bob Correa of Hasvold Vending in Sioux Falls , S .D ., "Of course we respect the Court and the decision-making process , but I don 't feel 48 hours is appropriate for a timely shutdown, or what you would call an orderly shutdown." Another operator commented, "The greatest fear has been realized. It's like death; you know it's coming but you don't know when. And when it does, it's a bummer." Since the state/private enterprise program began in 1989, video lottery has contributed over $500 ,000 million to South Dakota's coffers . The '94-'95 budget counted on video lottery for $65 million. The state can dip into the budget reserve fund to balance the budget and avoid deficit spending, but severe cuts will be necessary to fill the considerable gap after Sept. 23. At risk are countless jobs in the video lottery industry, which employs between 3,000 and 4,000 citizens. Many locations face closure since video lottery accounts for a major share of their busi- ness . Also expected: a rush of applications for unemployment benefits . The coin machine community had to re spond quickly to remove the machines , store them, and face the accounting nightmare . Most are making an effort to keep employees as long as possible, hoping to last until the election in November. Longtime video lot- tery opponent JoDean Joy of Miller, S .D., was quoted in the local press: "I think there will be a decided increase in retail sales because in a lot of families either dad or mom gambled away the check and there wasn't much money for food, let alone clothing. " She failed to say how unemployed workers will be able to afford new clothing, let alone food. NSM, intouch celebrate Jurgen Jost mof NSM with Steven Katz cc1 and Thomas Silinski ofintouch. NSM-America recently celebrated its expanding CD-ROM business with a presentation honoring its first and largest CD-ROM client, the intouch group. Held at San Francisco headquarters ofintouch, the occasion 14 marked the integration of the 2oooth NSM CD-ROM jukebox into intouch's multimedia, interactive iStation. The iStation is a kiosk that allows customers to sample music selections from continued on page 18 SEPTEMBER 1994