Forming a Strategy to Comply with the Small Games of Chance Law

Since 2012, Pennsylvania has passed 3 laws that substantially changed the requirements for running a successful gaming business in Pennsylvania. Most Organizations in PA survive because of the revenue brought in from Pull-tabs and other games of chance. The frequent changes made to the Small Games of Chance Law threaten this vital revenue, and thus threatens the existence of not only the Organizations, but the Charities whose survival is dependent on donations from these Organizations. 

HOWEVER, THESE CHANGES SHOULD NOT BE AN OBSTACLE TO RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL BAR AND GAMING BUSINESS.

How can your Organization grow its business in such confusing times?

A successful strategy for an Organization MUST cover the following:

1.      Bartenders that sell the tickets, payout winners, and sell food & beverages

2.      Managers that account for daily food & beverage and gaming business

3.      Compliance with ever-changing laws

4.      Retraining new Bartenders, Managers, Trustees/Board Members

1.      Bartenders: Running a successful business in this environment starts with your Bartenders. A good strategy will track each ticket sold by your Bartenders, and every payout made to winning customers. Implementing a good strategy will allow for the Manager to more easily account for the tickets, remove any possibility for your Bartenders to steal money or cheat, and maximize the profit for each and every game put into play.

 

2.      Managers: Your Bar Manager must account for every sale and payout to do his/her job properly. To complicate things, PA Law requires your Organization to maintain up to 14 different records that specify games, winners, and times. Needless to say, your Bar Manager is up against SUBSTANTIAL & TIME CONSUMING HURDLES, not to mention the tremendous pressure from the potential consequences of poor record keeping. Heavy fines and suspension of your gaming license could spell disaster. A successful strategy will allow your Bar Manager to deal with these responsibilities in a time-effective, and stress-relieving manner.

3.      Compliance: With up to a year’s worth of gaming activity for you to input into the Department of Revenue’s e-filing website, and for the BLCE to possibly audit, the chances are greatly increased for fines or worse. Having your gaming records organized is crucial to your Organization’s survival.  If your Organization is audited, your i’s must be dotted and your t’s must be crossed. A successful strategy makes it easy to e-file with the Department of Revenue, and will make for a seamless audit if the BLCE or the Department come knocking. 

4.      Retraining: Organizations like yours see frequent turnover in personnel. Bartenders and Bar Managers come and go, while Trustees and Board Members are voted in and out. To maintain the survival of your Organization, you must insure continuity among ever-changing personnel. A successful strategy makes it easy for a new hire or Trustee to jump right into the system.  A system removes confusion and provides stability in a confusing environment.

Our Customers find all the benefits of having a cohesive approach to their Bar and Gambling business. Sienna, our Food & Beverage and Ticket Management Software, tracks every ticket sale and payout as well as every food & beverage sale made by your Bartenders, provides reports that take hours of work away from your Bar Manager, automatically fills out all reports required by Pennsylvania law, e-files with the Dept. of Revenue so that you don’t have to, and insures continuity in the management of your business, no matter how many of your employees and Trustees come and go.

Contact us today, we would be happy to give you a free demo of our Food & Beverage and Ticket Management system. By partnering with us, your Organization can thrive in difficult times.

 

Paul Jubas

Vice President
814-244-8115
pauljubas@myersintsystems.com
Myers Integrated Systems, LLC

PA SGOC Myers Integrated Systems, LLC approved by State for second year in a row!

Although we have not yet received the official letter and we are not yet listed on the PA Department of Revenue's website, we have been told by the PA Department of the Revenue that we have been APPROVED for the 2nd year in a row to file 2014 SGOC Activity electronically on behalf of our customers.  We are the ONLY system that has EVER been approved to file Small Games of Chance Activity electronically.

All 70 plus users of the Sienna Database SGOC System will NOT have to Key 2014 SGOC Activity summarized by business week activity for each SGOC game into the PA Department of Revenue’s website.

Beginning January 2, 2015 (until January 31, 2015)

All PA Small Games Of Chance licensed organizations with net proceeds exceeding $20,000 for 2014 MUST enter the following into the States SGOC website – Unless they are using our Sienna Database SGOC System.  Myers Integrated Systems, LLC will file on your behalf so you will not need to enter your activity into the States website.

All of the organizations Small Games of Chance activity must be grouped by Game and by each of the organizations business week(s) for 2014.  Each of the Games Gross Revenue, Total Expenses, Total Prizes and finally Net proceeds for each business week must be tallied and summed and subsequently entered into the States website as required by law.

Example;  Pull-tab Games activity must be grouped by 52 business weeks in 2014 and all of the Gross revenue, Total Expenses, Total Prizes and Net proceeds for each business week for all pull-tab games that was taken out of play during the specific business week must be summed and entered into the States website.

The Drawing activity and the additional 6 Game activities will also need to be grouped/summarized as described above and entered as well.  If you did not have activity for any of the 8 Games for a business week you will not have to enter activity for that week in the States website.

Additionally, Organization(s) must then enter every Donation they made during 2014 including the date of the donation, the recipient of the donation and the amount. 

All Club Expenses for the year will need to be tallied and entered. 

Finally, if you are saving club expense money that was not used and is available (from the 40% in 2014) for a project in 2015 or beyond you will need to enter specific information regarding the project including the expected cost, the expected date of completion and the amount you are saving for the project.

Of course the Sienna Database Small Games of Chance System© is very easy to use will track and report to the PA Department of Revenue and will also produce ALL PA BLCE Schedules....and Much Much More!  Let the State and the BLCE know that you are serious about being accountable for your SGOC Activity by using the ONLY system Approved by the State.  Stay compliant and protect yourself with our easy to use comprehensive Game Tracking/Food and Beverage system...

The Sienna Database System© POS/SGOC Complete System

"Think Out of the Jar" with Myers Integrated Systems, LLC
www.myersintsystems.com
814.408.2158

PA BLCE Small Games of Chance Website gets a new Look

The PA Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement (and the PA State Police) have been updated and seems friendlier and appears to be easier to navigate.

Check out the new look for yourself…

http://www.psp.pa.gov/LCE/Pages/Small-Games-of-Chance.aspx#.VAjnW4d0wr0

Don't forget there is only ONE Food and Beverage Point of Sale and Ticket Tracking, Recording and Reporting system that files electronically with the PA Department of Revenue AND Creates ALL of the PA BLCE Recommended Schedules!   The Sienna Database System! 
You can find us here:  www.myersintsystems.com
OR
email us at support@myersintsystems.com OR Call 844-GET-SGOC - (844) 438-7462
and Schedule a Demo of our system!

 

 

 

PA Small Games of Chance YouTube Video

Even though the presentation is in front of Catholic Church/Non Profit licensee's, I strongly suggest you at least listen to the presentation as Officer Todd Merlina does an excellent job explaining the recent law changes. 

Below is the video description posted with the YouTube video:

Published on Feb 27, 2014
Todd Merlina is an Enforcement Supervisor with the Pennsylvania State Police, Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement. He provided this training on the PA Small Games of Chance laws and regulations on February 12, 2014 at the Cardinal Keeler Center, Harrisburg. This training is to help individuals be more aware of illegal gambling and to understand how to conduct games of chance for the purpose of raising funds legally. More information is available at http://www.Lce.state.pa.us

You can find the YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIHd4rE-b6k

Note:
Customers and/or Business Partners of Myers Integrated Systems, LLC that registered to access our 'Insiders Only Forum' have known about the video above for several weeks.  

PA Liquor Control Board lowers Tavern gaming license fee to $500

As expected, the PA LCB has lowered the Tavern gaming license fee from $2000 to $500.

Click here to read an article providing more details.







Resources:
http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6531847-74/tavern-games-gaming?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20alltribstories%20(TribLIVE%20News)#axzz392enn6x1

PA Liquor Control Enforcement Bureau’s PowerPoint presentation Breakdown

Below are several excerpts from our review of the PA Liquor Control Enforcement Bureau’s latest PowerPoint presentation.   

                                                                                                     

If you are a current customer of any of our SDS family of software products you can register for access to our SDS Forum where you can read our comprehensive analysis of PA Small Games of Chance Laws and how it impacts you.  Our customers received an email last week letting them know they can register in our forum and begin reading our review of the BLCE’s PowerPoint. 

If you are one of our customers and you did NOT receive an email from us last week please email us at support@myersintsystems.com and supply your customer name and contact information.  Please reference SGOC Forum access in the subject line.

pasmallgamesofchance.blogspot.com

We will continue to post general updates regarding PA SGOC laws on this blog, however our in-depth analysis will be accessible only to our customers and partners. 

Myers Integrated Systems, LLC is the LONE PIONEER of the premier and most comprehensive PA Small Games of Chance Tracking, Recording and Reporting System and we are proud to now offer our Sienna Point of Sale System that has many features including tracking inventory, producing drink slips (instead of drink chips) with expiration dates (if you want) and many more features.  Our POS system is so easy to use you can literally start entering your products and inventory within 1 minute of logging into the system.

Our Insiders Only Forum is one of the many benefits of selecting the only Point of Sale/Small Games of Chance Tracking system ever approved by the PA Department of Revenue.

You can check out our website by clicking here.

Below our Excerpts of our BLCE's Powerpoint Breakdown from our Insiders Only Forum:

We strongly recommend you download and read the PowerPoint posted for yourself.  If you have questions regarding Pennsylvania Small Games of Chance laws call your local PA Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement office.   The PowerPoint can be found here.

~D. Kelly Myers

www.myersintsystems.com

Resources:

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/hide_-_liquor_control_enforcement/5900/small_games_of_chance/501941

http://www.myersintsystems.com/forum.html

PA SGOC - Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement Posts Updated Interpretation

The Pennsylvania BLCE has posted their updated interpretation of the PA Small Games of Chance laws via a Small Games of Chance Charitable Organization PowerPoint Presentation file you can download.

You can download the pdf file by clicking on the link below;

http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/document/1422826/sgoc_-_public-_eligable_organizations-clubs_pdf

We will be reviewing this updated PowerPoint/PDF and we will update this blog if there is anything new that the Bureau's Interpretation may identify that we have not already previously listed and/or addressed.

Hope you are all having a safe and fun 4th of July and spending time with your family and friends.

God Bless all of our current and past US military soldiers for our being able to celebrate our freedom.

Resources:

http://www.lce.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/hide_-_liquor_control_enforcement/5900/small_games_of_chance/501941