ATMs in poolrooms???

tk_it_ez · Jan 17, 2007

I am curious if any of the poolroom owners here have an ATM in your room, and if you do, how does your machine do? Do most of you accept credit cards or are you strictly a cash business? I have played for a while, just not at a lot of different places and then usually at bars and I was curious.

And yes, I do have a little bit of an ulterior motive for asking. I am the sales manager for an ATM provider. We usually focus on c-stores and hotels but I thought poolrooms could be an industry that could really use them. Customers can’t pay off many bets with a credit card and they should probably avoid the guy if he is carrying around a credit card machine or if he lets them know at the beginning of the set that he does take credit cards.

I don’t want this to sound like a sales pitch. I promise that you will never see me posting a weekly special on here (unless I am asked to

). I am only looking to find out from room owners if they have had good experiences with an ATM and if they think it was a benefit to their business. I’ll be happy to answer anyone’s questions about an ATM but I would rather do it by PM and keep this thread about room owners’ thoughts on it. Like I said, I don’t want to turn this into a sales pitch.

If most people think this is inappropriate for this section because of the ulterior motive, just let me know and I will delete it. But if rooms could use ATMs, then it would be a great way to spend some time around the pool industry and work at the same time.

Thanks,

Nathan

Dead Money · Jan 17, 2007

Most pool rooms already have "ATM's". The trick is figuring out which guys they are and making sure you aren't one yourself

tk_it_ez · Jan 17, 2007

Dead Money said:
Most pool rooms already have "ATM's". The trick is figuring out which guys they are and making sure you aren't one yourself

I know exactly what you mean. A friend of mine that I shoot with about once a week is my ATM. He is usually good for $20-$100 every time and he just won't accept that he can't win. (not bragging because I am not a great shot) I told him I am going to buy a shirt for him that says "Nathan's ATM" on it. Even my girlfriend sometimes will ask him how the ATM is tonight when he walks in.

The funny thing is that he is the one that always wants to bump the bets. Maybe he is on a very longggggggg hustle.

Nathan

Snapshot9 · Jan 18, 2007

ATM's

Southrock and Rumors here have ATM's.
Shooters started to have one, but it didn't work most of the time, and it was taken out.

The above Pool rooms have either 10 or 11 tables. Only 1 9 foot in 2 of them.

I don't know whether SidePockets does or not. (Our biggest Pool room with 33 tables / 24 Bar tables / 9 9 footers).

Good advice - Never win more than $250 unless it is just before midnight since $250 is the max, $500 if one before midnight and one afterwards.

I had to let a guy off $50 one night because he couldn't get anymore money out of the ATM (he withdrew $500 /$250 bef mid /$250 aft mid)

nfty9er · Jan 18, 2007

ATM , Always Takes Money, If u keep it full

We have had an ATM for awhile now. It was installed by a friend that bought one but he was making way more than us. Our cut was crap so we bought it at a great price. (I think, lol ) So now we make pretty good.
I think most pool rooms have them. We can control the amount withdrawn.
If the atm goes dry and it is an important customer or transaction we will pay cash out through our credit card machine. We just charge our fee we pay to the bank. Of course the banks make money every way possible and a lot of it. The machine is worth it though. If we have enough cash on hand we can just add money on the spot too. But of course I or my son has to be there.

Deadon · Jan 19, 2007

tk_it_ez said:
The funny thing is that he is the one that always wants to bump the bets. Maybe he is on a very longggggggg hustle.
Nathan

Nathan; That is fricken funny.

tk_it_ez · Jan 19, 2007

Snapshot9 said:
Southrock and Rumors here have ATM's.
Shooters started to have one, but it didn't work most of the time, and it was taken out.

The above Pool rooms have either 10 or 11 tables. Only 1 9 foot in 2 of them.

I don't know whether SidePockets does or not. (Our biggest Pool room with 33 tables / 24 Bar tables / 9 9 footers).

Good advice - Never win more than $250 unless it is just before midnight since $250 is the max, $500 if one before midnight and one afterwards.

I had to let a guy off $50 one night because he couldn't get anymore money out of the ATM (he withdrew $500 /$250 bef mid /$250 aft mid)

Snapshot9, you might have been taken on that $50. Our ATMs have a max, usually set at $200 to keep one person from emptying the machine and only having to pay one $2.00 transaction fee but you can use the machine multiple times in the same day.

It comes down to the issuing bank and the type of account, not the ATM. Some accounts have limits of $400, $500, $1000 or some have no limits on the $$$ that can be taken out in one day. So if the person's account had a max of $1000 per day ATM withdraw, he could get the max of $200 for five seperate transactions. At $2.00 that would be $10.00 in transaction fees for $1000 instead of only one $2.00 fee for $1000.

But the ATM that guy used could have been setup different. Either way, $500 dollars is not a bad score anyday.

Nathan

tk_it_ez · Jan 19, 2007

Deadon said:
Nathan; That is fricken funny.

In my best Joe Pesci voice

You mean, let me understand this cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little f***ed up maybe, but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to f***in' amuse you? What do you mean funny, funny how? How am I funny?

(Deadon) Just... you know, how you tell the story, what?

No, no, I don't know, you said it. How do I know? You said I'm funny. How the f**k am I funny, what the f**k is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny!

(Deadon) Get the frick out of here, Tommy!

Ya motherf***er! I almost had him, I almost had him. Ya stuttering ***** ya. Frankie, was he shaking? I wonder about you sometimes, Henry. You may fold under questioning.

In case anyone didn't get it, it's from Goodfellas. Good scene in a great movie. Also a good book.

No offense meant Deadon, glad you got a laugh out of my other post, hope you do on this one too.

Nathan

bud green · Jan 20, 2007

The owner of the pool hall I play at says his atm makes more money per square foot than anything else in the room.

cueandcushion · Jan 20, 2007

bud green said:
The owner of the pool hall I play at says his atm makes more money per square foot than anything else in the room.

He should put in a case full of dart supplies then.

Lord knows you dont make it on pool!

Snapshot9 · Jan 21, 2007

Well

tk_it_ez said:
Snapshot9, you might have been taken on that $50. Our ATMs have a max, usually set at $200 to keep one person from emptying the machine and only having to pay one $2.00 transaction fee but you can use the machine multiple times in the same day.

It comes down to the issuing bank and the type of account, not the ATM. Some accounts have limits of $400, $500, $1000 or some have no limits on the $$$ that can be taken out in one day. So if the person's account had a max of $1000 per day ATM withdraw, he could get the max of $200 for five seperate transactions. At $2.00 that would be $10.00 in transaction fees for $1000 instead of only one $2.00 fee for $1000.

But the ATM that guy used could have been setup different. Either way, $500 dollars is not a bad score anyday.

Nathan

He didn't have the cash. He was using his friend's card that was with him.
What was strange though, was that Fast Eddie McCoy, the friend and a good Pool player himself, knew Bill would not beat me to begin with, and went ahead and let him use his card for the cash. We were playing
$50 a game 9 ball, so it didn't take too long. I think Bill won 2 games, and I won the rest.

krbsailing · Jan 21, 2007

Hard to believe you can make any $$$ with an ATM

I'm confused .... how are you making any money stuffing $$$ into that leased ATM machine

I can't do the math for you but, my guess is that it might be a wash if you're lucky!? I might be wrong depending upon your venue but, I've never had anyone be able to sell me an ATM machine for our Pub.

My feeling is that if you take credit cards and have the capabilities to do a Debit transaction then you have no need for an ATM!?!?! Why put $$$$$ into a machine and tie those xtra $$$ up for no particularly good reason???

Sshhhh....this is a very special and secret -- we simply give $$$ advances using the every day credit card machine and, of course we charge a fee for doing so

Just another thought

nfty9er · Jan 21, 2007

Did you even read post nbr 5?

krbsailing said:
I'm confused .... how are you making any money stuffing $$$ into that leased ATM machine

I can't do the math for you but, my guess is that it might be a wash if you're lucky!? I might be wrong depending upon your venue but, I've never had anyone be able to sell me an ATM machine for our Pub.

My feeling is that if you take credit cards and have the capabilities to do a Debit transaction then you have no need for an ATM!?!?! Why put $$$$$ into a machine and tie those xtra $$$ up for no particularly good reason???

Sshhhh....this is a very special and secret -- we simply give $$$ advances using the every day credit card machine and, of course we charge a fee for doing so

Just another thought

Because if you did you would not have posted this stupid answer.
First of all, you do not lease an ATM. Somebody else usually owns it and like a video game or pinball you get a cut of the profits. I was making .25c everytime someone used it. It cost me nothing. So if we did 200 transactions a month I made a free in my pocket $50. Now if I take a credit card it costs me money as I pay the fee charged to me which is about 3 percent of the transaction. So if I guy wants 20 bucks, it costs me 60 cents, whereas if I direct him to the atm I make a quarter. Now I could charge the 3 percent but my agreement does not allow me to do that and if they find out the credit card companies can cancel my priveleges. Now I must admit I have done it when the bill is not worth the cost. Now if a guy needs 200, what would you rather do , use your machine where it costs 6 bucks or charge your good customer an extra 6when he can use the machine for 2. DUH/ Now here is the kicker as I said in that post number 5? I bought the machine, now if I do 200 transasctions a month my profit is $350. I pay the phone bill, which is practically nothing. So you better quit guessing and find out some facts before you start ranting. You are a fool if you do not have one.

krbsailing · Jan 21, 2007

I don't think I'm ranting

I don't have the space for an ATM really. I'd much rather have any other machine video or pool table

It's obvious we disagree here but, I'm happy to charge a $1 or $3 depending upon the transaction just to cover my costs and keep my customers happy....I'll make it back at the bar or thru pulltab play or whatever.

You can keep your lousy $50 I'll just keep making $$$ for myself like I have for many years ....just what exactly is it that you do -- sell ATMs!?

nfty9er said:
Because if you did you would not have posted this stupid answer.
First of all, you do not lease an ATM. Somebody else usually owns it and like a video game or pinball you get a cut of the profits. I was making .25c everytime someone used it. It cost me nothing. So if we did 200 transactions a month I made a free in my pocket $50. Now if I take a credit card it costs me money as I pay the fee charged to me which is about 3 percent of the transaction. So if I guy wants 20 bucks, it costs me 60 cents, whereas if I direct him to the atm I make a quarter. Now I could charge the 3 percent but my agreement does not allow me to do that and if they find out the credit card companies can cancel my priveleges. Now I must admit I have done it when the bill is not worth the cost. Now if a guy needs 200, what would you rather do , use your machine where it costs 6 bucks or charge your good customer an extra 6when he can use the machine for 2. DUH/ Now here is the kicker as I said in that post number 5? I bought the machine, now if I do 200 transasctions a month my profit is $350. I pay the phone bill, which is practically nothing. So you better quit guessing and find out some facts before you start ranting. You are a fool if you do not have one.

tk_it_ez · Jan 21, 2007

Krbsailing, as I said in my original post, I do sell ATMs but that was not the intention of this thread. The intention was to get feedback from room owners about how many have ATMs and what type of experiences they have had with them.

To answer a few of your questions.
1. Most of the time it is illegal to charge the customer for a credit card transaction. Sometimes it is legal to charge for a debit transaction. So if you want to charge for the transaction, by all means go ahead but you are doing so at your own risk. Most merchants do not want to risk losing their ability to take credit cards or face any legal problems.

2. There are different types of ATM programs. With some programs the ATM provider supplies the ATM, phone line, armored service, cash fills and vault cash for free. The location then gets a percentage of the transaction fees from the ATM.
OR
The location will purchase an ATM, get their own phone line, and do the fills themselves. The location gets 100% of the transaction fees.

Here are the post popular reasons that locations want an ATM.
1. Provide another convenience
2 To keep customers from leaving if they run out of cash and want to throw darts, shoot pool on bar boxes or gamble. Anything you need cash for.
3. They don't take credit cards
4. Lower their credit card transactions
5. Customers usually tip servers and bartenders better when they pay in cash
6. Generate additional revenue.

An ATM usually takes up about 4-8 square feet of floor space and most of the time it is located in an area that would be empty if it was not there. So let’s do a little breakdown on costs and revenue. For this example, let’s say a location does 300 transactions per month.

First program= 300 x $2.00= $600 Location gets 25% so they get a check for $150. They have to pay electric so minus off $3-$5. They may also have to insure the machine, but not the cash inside it, if they are not 24 hour, ($20-$40 per year) so minus off $2.50. So now we are at $142.50 plus whatever they saved in credit card fees. This is if it didn't increase revenue from the cash games (darts, pool, etc).

OR

Own the machine = 300 x $2.00 = $600 Location gets 100% Minus off $20.00-$50.00 for basic local phone line, $5 for electric, lets say $10 for insurance, and $15 for lost interest on the money you put into the machine. Add on saved credit card transaction fees and increased revenue for games. So you are looking at $525-$550 per month plus credit card savings and increased game revenue for 4-8 square feet that would probably be empty and about 5 minutes of work to fill once per week.

I am not trying to sell you an ATM. From what you said, you don't have room for one anyway. But for many businesses, having an ATM makes good business sense. You have a pub. Do you have pool tables, dart boards, bar top video games, pinball, Golden Tee or any other video games? Why? The same reason to have an ATM; because they make money and the customers want them.

Everyone, sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch. I had no intention of going into details about ATMs when I started this thread. All I was looking for is feedback from room owners on their experiences with ATMs and what percentage of rooms already have them. But I felt like I had to explain to Krbsailing why some locations my want an ATM and how it is very possible to make a good profit from one.

Thanks,

Nathan

nfty9er · Jan 21, 2007

You didn't comprehend again, did you?

krbsailing said:
I don't think I'm ranting

I don't have the space for an ATM really. I'd much rather have any other machine video or pool table

It's obvious we disagree here but, I'm happy to charge a $1 or $3 depending upon the transaction just to cover my costs and keep my customers happy....I'll make it back at the bar or thru pulltab play or whatever.

You can keep your lousy $50 I'll just keep making $$$ for myself like I have for many years ....just what exactly is it that you do -- sell ATMs!?

Keep my 50? Read the post, I now make $350 a month.
Now read tk it ez post again so you comprehend. He spells it our beautifully. And my maching takes up about 4 sq. ft., Everybody has that much space available, even if you have to put it in the bathroom. Ha.
So you think you make more not having one? I don't think so. I have owned my room 27 years and you figure out real fast how to make extra money and make your customers happy. I think you were so naieve as to how the ATM system works you stuck your foot in your mouth so now you rant to try to defend yourself. You know it may not be right for your pub but you sure would not ever break even. To just throw away free money is absurd. And llike the man said why gamble on losing your credit card rights. Just one unhappy customer can ruin all your priveliges.

nfty9er · Jan 21, 2007

Thanks for the baCKUP

tk_it_ez said:
Krbsailing, as I said in my original post, I do sell ATMs but that was not the intention of this thread. The intention was to get feedback from room owners about how many have ATMs and what type of experiences they have had with them.

To answer a few of your questions.
1. Most of the time it is illegal to charge the customer for a credit card transaction. Sometimes it is legal to charge for a debit transaction. So if you want to charge for the transaction, by all means go ahead but you are doing so at your own risk. Most merchants do not want to risk losing their ability to take credit cards or face any legal problems.

2. There are different types of ATM programs. With some programs the ATM provider supplies the ATM, phone line, armored service, cash fills and vault cash for free. The location then gets a percentage of the transaction fees from the ATM.
OR
The location will purchase an ATM, get their own phone line, and do the fills themselves. The location gets 100% of the transaction fees.

Here are the post popular reasons that locations want an ATM.
1. Provide another convenience
2 To keep customers from leaving if they run out of cash and want to throw darts, shoot pool on bar boxes or gamble. Anything you need cash for.
3. They don't take credit cards
4. Lower their credit card transactions
5. Customers usually tip servers and bartenders better when they pay in cash
6. Generate additional revenue.

An ATM usually takes up about 4-8 square feet of floor space and most of the time it is located in an area that would be empty if it was not there. So let’s do a little breakdown on costs and revenue. For this example, let’s say a location does 300 transactions per month.

First program= 300 x $2.00= $600 Location gets 25% so they get a check for $150. They have to pay electric so minus off $3-$5. They may also have to insure the machine, but not the cash inside it, if they are not 24 hour, ($20-$40 per year) so minus off $2.50. So now we are at $142.50 plus whatever they saved in credit card fees. This is if it didn't increase revenue from the cash games (darts, pool, etc).

OR

Own the machine = 300 x $2.00 = $600 Location gets 100% Minus off $20.00-$50.00 for basic local phone line, $5 for electric, lets say $10 for insurance, and $15 for lost interest on the money you put into the machine. Add on saved credit card transaction fees and increased revenue for games. So you are looking at $525-$550 per month plus credit card savings and increased game revenue for 4-8 square feet that would probably be empty and about 5 minutes of work to fill once per week.

I am not trying to sell you an ATM. From what you said, you don't have room for one anyway. But for many businesses, having an ATM makes good business sense. You have a pub. Do you have pool tables, dart boards, bar top video games, pinball, Golden Tee or any other video games? Why? The same reason to have an ATM; because they make money and the customers want them.

Everyone, sorry if this sounds like a sales pitch. I had no intention of going into details about ATMs when I started this thread. All I was looking for is feedback from room owners on their experiences with ATMs and what percentage of rooms already have them. But I felt like I had to explain to Krbsailing why some locations my want an ATM and how it is very possible to make a good profit from one.

Thanks,

Nathan

I could not have explained it better and you hit the nail right on the head.
Dick Cady
fasteddysbilliards.com

Snapshot9 · Jan 22, 2007

Yeah, thanks

Nathan, not a room owner, but I like finding out how it works in the arrangement of an ATM. Your explanation gave me a much better perspective regarding ATMs.

breaktime2 · Jan 22, 2007

We own ours and gross between $500 - $600 a month. < 4sq ft. used. I think I'll put in 10 more

krbsailing · Jan 22, 2007

Well, I guess if you can make $350 to $500 then it sounds like you folks are doing pretty well!

FYI, I really was not ranting in my posts....I was merely stating a different point of view

ATMs in poolrooms???

Bet against me

AzB Silver Member

Bet against me

son of 3 leg 1 eye dog ..

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

Bet against me

Bet against me

Dolley and Django

Cue & Cushion_STL_MO

son of 3 leg 1 eye dog ..

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

Bet against me

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member

son of 3 leg 1 eye dog ..

AzB Silver Member

AzB Silver Member