Profit split with location owner.

YeastLord

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A buddy of mine just bought a bar. There is a great nook space that used to be a coat room. He's interested in putting some of my cabs in there. What type of split is typical (if there is a typical split) between vendors and establishment owners?
 
A buddy of mine just bought a bar. There is a great nook space that used to be a coat room. He's interested in putting some of my cabs in there. What type of split is typical (if there is a typical split) between vendors and establishment owners?

I think the standard split is still 50/50.
 
Yeah but why not change the norm? Sure he's your buddy, but these games could get abused and there will be maintenance.

I say 75/25 with you getting the 75%.
 
More power to you if you can get it but there probably aren't too many site owners willing to take 25 cents on the dollar for giving up that kind of real estate .
 
A buddy of mine just bought a bar. There is a great nook space that used to be a coat room. He's interested in putting some of my cabs in there. What type of split is typical (if there is a typical split) between vendors and establishment owners?

what about the state/local vendor taxes?

reason I ask is because we ran into that here in Florida...they wanted
a vendor license and tax sticker for every machine at the location??
 
I say 75/25 with you getting the 75%.

The problem with that is that any intelligent bar owner will realize that putting in extra seating like a table or bar space to raise capacity of drinking patrons will generate far more revenue than games ever will.
 
Put them in on free play for the first month and see if anyone even plays them, before you go making split agreements and spending money on tax tags and the like.
 
what about the state/local vendor taxes?

reason I ask is because we ran into that here in Florida...they wanted
a vendor license and tax sticker for every machine at the location??

Make sure they are games that will get some play.
If you have to pay for tax stickers, that will eat your half of a game that earns $20/month.

I've got some low-revenue games out there and got tired of seeing the tax man get his share out of my half. I slipped in a 'license fee' that comes off the top and then we split the rest.

I'm conscious of the fact that the owner needs to see some revenue to make it worth their while, so I have a sliding scale.

If games are pulling in $100/month, then it's a no-brainer to just pay the license out of my portion. At that rate, I'd have most of my collection out on the street!

Good luck.
 
Put them in on free play for the first month and see if anyone even plays them, before you go making split agreements and spending money on tax tags and the like.

Great way to piss of customers. Put them on free play and then start making them pay. Having them on free play will not tell you anything about how they will do when people have to pay for them.
 
Put them in on free play for the first month and see if anyone even plays them, before you go making split agreements and spending money on tax tags and the like.

This sounds like a good plan. The area where the games will go is not very accessible for tables which is why he wants to place them there.
 
No, but if no one plays them while they are free then they certainly aren't going to drop coin.

Just put up a sign, "Free Arcade Game Month". All games on freeplay this month.

Depending on location and customers just leaving them free to attract customers might be the better move than having them on quarters. I know some of the other people here with games on location struggle to make anything at all after the split and licensing. Owner should buy/lease the games from you in that case.

Great way to piss of customers. Put them on free play and then start making them pay. Having them on free play will not tell you anything about how they will do when people have to pay for them.
 
it may not even be your decision on the split. in my state you CAN'T pay on a split anymore than 50% to the bar owner. you have license costs, tax sticker cost and if you don't have them wait until someone finds out especially a competitor. you will have some major fines and plenty of regrets, so i would check into all that first before doing it so you don't find yourself in a bad spot. i personally get 60% and 40% to the site owner on the more expensive games like pinballs, BBH safari, etc. and the cheaper 80's games i do 50/50. don't be afraid to charge more than a quarter to play. all my games are 50cents or 1.00 each play and NO ONE complains and they play the shit out of my games. most sites average 150 - 350 per game every 5-6 weeks and rotate games to keep them fresh when they start to go lower on the play counts.
 
The problem with that is that any intelligent bar owner will realize that putting in extra seating like a table or bar space to raise capacity of drinking patrons will generate far more revenue than games ever will.
Agreed. The $ per square foot should be known for that location and that will really determine whether the games should be there at all, as well as the expected income from them.

For example, if your buddy can make $20 a night in that same square footage (with a table of four, for example), then it may not be worth having the games at all. That is, unless the games are a draw to get people in the door to begin with.

Scott C.
 
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it may not even be your decision on the split. in my state you CAN'T pay on a split anymore than 50% to the bar owner. you have license costs, tax sticker cost and if you don't have them wait until someone finds out especially a competitor. you will have some major fines and plenty of regrets, so i would check into all that first before doing it so you don't find yourself in a bad spot. i personally get 60% and 40% to the site owner on the more expensive games like pinballs, BBH safari, etc. and the cheaper 80's games i do 50/50. don't be afraid to charge more than a quarter to play. all my games are 50cents or 1.00 each play and NO ONE complains and they play the shit out of my games. most sites average 150 - 350 per game every 5-6 weeks and rotate games to keep them fresh when they start to go lower on the play counts.

Out of curiosity, how does one find out about that?

Do you rotate games around locations, or outright switch from home use ones?
 
Most states (all?) require a tax... per game. Some are reasonable... others are quite high. Paying a low amount of tax per sticker sucks still if you have a good number of games. A $20.00 tax turns to $2000.00 if you have a hundred games on route.
 
If you decide to put them in there, tell the bar owner that they will pay for repairs, and you get 100% of the coin.

Neither one of you will come out ahead, trust me.
 
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