Arcade Machine Cabinet Question

mickmccarthy

I was considering purchasing a classic arcade machine (e.g. Tetris, PacMan) and asking the owner of a premises (e.g. a takeaway) if they would be interested in hosting it in return for a percentage of the income generated.

I'm trying to figure out if this would be profitable and was wondering if someone here would be familiar with some of the specifics:

- Does a certain duty need to be paid by the machine owner, or the premises owner (or both)?

- If so, the amount of duty- is it a fixed amount or a % of income?

- if this is paid by the machine owner or the person who owns the premises?

- whether the premises owner or the person leasing the machine (or both) need particular licences and the costs involved?

- what level of tax needs to be paid

- what type of arrangement would be usual with a premises owner? (e.g. what % of the income)

- What type of maintenace costs would be involved?

Thanks for reading. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Mick.

antoinolachtnai

Not an expert, but this area is well covered.

The duty is flat.

The duty is paid by the owner of the machine afaik, but it doesn't matter much.

You can get the rate on the revenue site. I think it is a few hundred.

You pay tax (including vat) on the same basis as any other business

Traditionally, the business works on a 'fifty-fifty' split. This only makes sense for quite weak locations though. They would want a lot more for a good location.

I don't know what the maintenance costs would be. A few calls per year I suppose. You would really want to be able to do the maintenance yourself if you only have one machine. There are people who do this sort of stuff, but my experience is that they are a bit of work to manage.

There are planning issues if there are more than a few machines.

traditional cabinet machines take up a good bit of space, and that could be an issue.

eeguy

How much were you thinking of spending on a classic arcade?

mickmccarthy

@antoinolachtnai: Thanks a l lot for the info. This is really helpful.
@eeguy: Not sure yet - around €400 I reckon.