Lawmaker says high-tech gadgets may help ensure better poker tax collections

Micronesia -- VICE Speaker Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero says the government is exploring the possibility of installing high-tech monitoring gadgets on poker machines to ensure that their operators pay the right amount of taxes.

Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan and chairman of the House Committee on Commerce and Tourism, said a U.S-based company, which he did not identify, made a presentation last week regarding the gadgets.

“This company specializes in monitoring the gaming industry including poker machines. They can conduct monitoring on individual machines in real time,” he told Variety.

He said some poker operators have been under-reporting their income to the detriment of the cash-strapped government which continues to reel from the impact of the steadily declining revenue collections from the garment and tourism industries.

“We should have adopted this system a long time ago,” he said. “It’s high-tech and probably high-priced but if it’s put in place nobody can deceive the government in terms of tax collections. I think we have to look at it and see if we can afford it.”

Government records show that there were 1,414 licensed poker machines throughout the CNMI in 2006.

More than 1,000 of them were on Saipan; 106 on Tinian; and 82 on Rota.

The government generates close to $9 million in licensing these machines.

Separate taxes are levied on winnings, among other fees.

News Added: 24 February, 2008

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