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Goodbye, Oklahoma Arcades!
Dr Zero:
I dont know how many of you read rob ohara's blog but this one really got to me! :cry: :angry: :banghead:
http://www.robohara.com/?p=2270
Goodbye, Oklahoma Arcades!
Posted at 10:38 pm by Rob in Main
According to a recent local news story, the cost of vending decals is about to triple in Oklahoma. Vending decals are the stickers you see on arcade games and jukeboxes and pool tables. Each sticker is good for a year, and is required to be placed on “every coin-operated music or amusement device that requires a quarter or more.”
Currently, a sticker costs $50. Last month, the Oklahoma House and Senate passed a bill that will triple that cost, to $150 per machine. Let’s say for example a laundromat has three machines inside for kids to play. That’ll be $450/year, just in vending stickers. Since most locations split the take 50/50 with machine owners, those three machines will need to be played 3,600 times a year ($450*4*2) just to cover the cost of the stickers. That of course doesn’t include repairs, upkeep, or, you know, any profit.
According to the story on KFOR:
Senator Mike Johnson’s name appears on this bill so we contacted him to ask about the sudden increase. He said lawmakers simply had to come up with new revenue to make up for the shortfall in the state budget and this is one of the ways they’re doing it.
If anything, I suspect 2/3 of the machines you see out “in the wild” will soon disappear. The state will make the same amount of money (or less), and the biggest losers will be people like me who always keep a few spare quarters in their pocket just in case they happen across an old arcade game. Places like Celebration Station and Chuck E. Cheese probably won’t close down, but if their operating costs triple, you can bet that increase will get passed on to you.
Is this a great state or what? Sometimes, not so much.
Ginsu Victim:
FYI: Rob goes by the name Flack.
Yeah, they're really ---smurfing--- us over out here. A few guys I know that have amusement companies have definitely been vocal about their opposition to this.
RayB:
--- Quote from: Dr Zero on July 23, 2010, 06:01:34 pm ---If anything, I suspect 2/3 of the machines you see out “in the wild” will soon disappear. The state will make the same amount of money (or less), and the biggest losers will be people like me who always keep a few spare quarters in their pocket just in case they happen across an old arcade game. Places like Celebration Station and Chuck E. Cheese probably won’t close down, but if their operating costs triple, you can bet that increase will get passed on to you.
--- End quote ---
You totally nail it on the head there. They use completely naive, short-sighted logic and assume that if the numbers are $X now, then they will stay that way and not be affected by their actions. By their logic, if McDonald's tripled the cost of all their food items, they'd triple their revenues. LOL
Ginsu Victim:
Yeah, the logic behind it is very flawed.
Dr Zero:
--- Quote from: Ginsu Victim on July 23, 2010, 06:33:25 pm ---FYI: Rob goes by the name Flack.
Yeah, they're really ---smurfing--- us over out here. A few guys I know that have amusement companies have definitely been vocal about their opposition to this.
--- End quote ---
Is there anything we can do to help?
My wife even said that is messed up she said most of us have the games for the love of the games not to get rich.