Slot machines in bowling alleys and bars?

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
And he is the executive director ofthe Bowling Centers Association of Ohio and the
Ohio Coin Machine Association. He isDavid Cory joining us now. David,
welcome for the first time to theMark Blazer Show. How are you,
sir? I'm doing really great,Blazer, and thanks for having me on
the show this afternoon. Absolutely sotalk to me about this is really a

(00:24):
pretty interesting thing. Could this reallyhappen in a bar or bowling alley near
you? Could we get? Well, they're called technically VLTs, but that
basically is a slot machine. Correct, Well, they're called by a number
of things. They're called vgts,video gaming terminals in Illinois, they're called
video lottery terminals in West Virginia andin other states. But you know,

(00:52):
there's got to be some history involvedin this, and if you don't mind,
and I'll make this as brief aspossible, but it's an issue we've
been advocating for and educating members ofthe General Assembly since nineteen ninety four,
Okay, yeah, thirty years.And we know between then and the introduction
of casinos, there was no appetiteto expand gaming, just no appetite whatsoever.

(01:17):
And then casinos came to town.We all know what happened. They
put it in the constitution, youknow, et cetera, et cetera.
Then the lottery created Keino and youcould play Keino and bars on monitors and
also on their kiosks, the Lottery'skiosks. And then sports betting came along,

(01:40):
and we know how that's just explodedhere in Ohio and one of the
top states. And then the legislatureallowed e bingo machines for charitable purposes and
fraternal clubs, so fraternal clubs canhave me bingo machines and they're basically slot
machines vot vgt's again, whatever youwant to call them. And then if

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you remember also before all that VLTsare now in the race tracks, so
seven racetracks. And now they're talkingabout I Lottery and I Casinos, and
our members who are Ohio small businessesprimarily family owned bricks and mortar hospitality establishments,

(02:29):
you know, bars and taverns,bowling centers, were saying, hey,
wait a second, what about us. We've been left behind on this
expansion, so we really should benext. Because it's not a level playing
field at all, Blazer, it'sit's definitely not. And if you want,
I can give you a quick example, please do yeah, and that

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is you've got a bowling center andthey're bowling in their leagues on a Tuesday
night or Thursday night whatever, andthey're finished with their league and then right
across the streets of Fraternal Club.So what do they do? They leave,
They go over to the Fraternal Club, the Moose, the Elks,

(03:10):
the Eagles, the you know whateverelse there are, and they go play
the flow machine. So you literallyhave an unleveled playing field. And so
all we're asking the General Assembly,and the General Assembly has done I think
a pretty we think a pretty darngood job of you know, rolling out

(03:31):
gaming and a very planned and uhyou know planned approach. You know,
it's been methodical. And now wethink, hey, it's it's time to
level the playing field a little bitand allow us to have a couple few
machines in our locations. How arethey receiving this, David? I mean,

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what what is the reception of thetemperature, if you will, of
this, of this whole presentation,if you will, Well, you know,
we've had a University of Cincinnati economicifpack study to let them know you
know what this is going to translateto. We've we had you know,
the Eye Eye casino people came inand testified in front of the Study Gaming

(04:15):
commit the Gaming Commission on the Futureof of Gambling in Ohio and they were
counting some you know, pretty impressivenumbers, you know, two hundred to
four hundred million four eye gaming.And again, all that money is going
out of state. You know,there's no there's no casino. There's no
casino that's owned by an Ohio companies. So we know where those profits are

(04:36):
going. They're they're out of here. So when we started talking to them
about hey, look, you knowyou're talking about you know, five to
seven thousand new employees that that youknow, Ohio's small business, family owned
hospitality establishments will be hiring because ofthis. You know, that's double what

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Intel is going to bring to justCentral high When we're talking about you know,
five to seven thousand and new employeesfrom across the state. And then
we talk about, you know,the money that it can generate on just
a couple few machines, and Isay, you know, two or three
machines per location. You know,we're not talking about many casinos in a

(05:17):
bar or a boweling center. Imean, come on, now, that's
not the case, because the appetitefor gaming in Ohio, Ohioland's appetite for
gaming is voracious. I think wesee the numbers, and so when we
talk to legislators and say, hey, look we're talking about you know,
employees Ohio businesses and employing more peoplein the hospitality industry, and then we're

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talking about anywhere from and the money. You know, it's a little bit
tough to do the economic impact onthis, and we're not going to do
what others have done before and oversell the economic impact of this. We
don't think that's fair. You knowthat that happens time and time and again.
But you know, you're looking atapproximately five hundred to seven hundred million

(06:05):
dollars annually generated for the state andfor you know, local governments too.
I mean, those numbers are hardto are hard to pass up when you're
talking about you know, they wantto do away with the state income tax.
Potentially, they're looking at, youknow, increasing school funding. Where's

(06:26):
that money going to you know,the money that's going to be redisturbed,
where's that going to come from?We think we have the answer. All
right, So David, we've gotliterally like sixty seconds left, and so
what's the next step in this inthis process, what would you say The
next step is to getting this closerto reality. The next step is the
commission, the Study Commission on Suserof Gaming in Ohio has to you know,

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include us in their final report whichis due in June. You know,
that would be very helpful. Andthen the members of the General Assembly
have to pass legislation to allow forVLTs or vgts and hospitality establishments with liquor
permits you know, type D liquorpermits on premise establishments, not convenience stores,

(07:13):
nothing like that, but on premiseage restricted locations. That's what needs
to be happened next. And thenif any of your listeners are into this
type of program, they need tocontact their local legislator. They need to
let them know that, hey,we want this, we want this for
our mom and pop bar and bowlingcenter. Very good. His name is

(07:33):
David Corey. He is executive directorof the Bowling Centers Association of Ohio and
the Ohio Coin Machine Association. AndDavid, this is incredibly eye opening.
We will continue to follow this andwe'll have you on again, my friend,
when we have a little bit moretime. It's not only get a
lot more information, but unfortunately we'reup against it. But this is I'm

(07:53):
all for this, especially when you'retalking about it is a possibility to help
smaller businesses to rate a little morefoot traffic and people coming in, because
let's face it, that is acool thing to have the vgts or the
VLTs as you call them in anduh in their places. But David,
fantastic to meet you. Thanks forcoming on and we'll have you on again
soon. Love to have, loveto be the Thanks a lot Mark Preaze

(08:16):
appreciate a lot partner. You're welcomeman, Thank you very much.