From the time I was a teenager, I have spent my entire life working in a Queens-based two-generation family business which grew into a market leader in the retail electronic amusement, music, tobacco, and ATM industry. In large measure, New York State’s policies are to blame for how this cottage industry together with a number of small businesses like mine are drying up, disappearing. Going back to 1975 there were some 300 enterprises in our industry with a presence in the greater New York tri-state region. Today there are fifty. Several hundred people continue to earn their livelihoods here.
Much of the equipment our businesses placed on New York’s streets was manufactured in America. Today, most of it is imported from China, South Korea, or Taiwan!
Our jukebox music and amusements used to be located in diners, coffee shops, and pizzerias. Due to government policies, the economics of this business no longer make sense for those locations. The bulwark of our business has always has been in bars, clubs, and entertainment centers. Our presence in these locations provides a meaningful financial boost to these business owners—many of whom are struggling themselves to stay open. New York’s government officials are strangling our businesses by imposing unreasonable, difficult laws and regulations. Meanwhile, the government unfairly subsidizes and encourages our competitors.
For example, while it has been determined that tobacco is a health hazard, for decades this part of our industry with cigarette machines employed hundreds of people with decent jobs. Government earned significant tax revenues here. When New York’s government crippled this legal business—the illegal tobacco sales which continue to flourish have cost New York as much as $1 billion a year in tax revenue.
Compare this with the New York government’s encouragement of cannabis. Similar to cigarettes and cigars, there are major concerns over the health and safety of using cannabis. Yet, New York has provided taxpayer funding to a multitude of cannabis operations, even to people with criminal records. And New York often looks the other way, being very lenient on cannabis locations which are illegal. It is questionable how much tax revenue New York has actually been brought in through this system it has created.
Our industry must compete with The New York State Lottery, which is gambling entertainment. New York’s Lottery has a strong, aggressive presence in most all of our locations. Our amusements and music are at a severe competitive disadvantage because we cannot offer any prizes of value.
Within the past twenty years, New York has enthusiastically embraced both casino gambling, and now online gambling and sports betting. All of this has become a competitive monster where many business owners in my industry are unable to cope.
With horse racing and Off-Track Betting, New York taxpayers have poured billions of dollars into subsidizing this entertainment. Often these mediums are flawed and controversial. The odds are stacked against amusement and music owners struggling to compete.
It would be disastrous if New York wiped out our industry, its employees and economic development—in the name of favoring other industries! It is time for New York State government officials to provide relief so our industry survives: Equal financial assistance, tax benefits, and business accommodations which it has bestowed on our competitors.
