Emerson's Pub
Your performance · August 2026
The four numbers operators read first
Against locations your size (6+ terminals, 6,794 of them), your NTI/machine is −$1,704/mo vs the $5,109 peer median — bucketing by size keeps a small bar from being measured against a big one.
Where the money goes (August 2026)
Illinois law fixes the after-tax split at 50/50 and bans any deviation (230 ILCS 40/25(c)) — about $6,640 to you and $6,640 to your operator this month. Neither side can move that split. That's the whole point of The Gameset: with the split set by statute, operators compete for your gameset on service — games, cabinets, refresh cadence, response time.
Where your gameset stands
Plenty of traffic, but the hold runs below the market — the right game mix could turn that demand into more income.
What an operator sees: An operator sees busy machines with margin headroom — a gameset where better titles and merchandising pay off.
Each gray dot is another Whiteside County gameset for the same month, shown without identity. The dashed lines are the statewide medians — which quadrant you land in is the positioning above, drawn out.
Trend
Cycle rate is a leading indicator: when players start cycling their money fewer times, it usually shows up here before it shows up in NTI — an early read on gameset health for you and for an operator.
These are the two series a service change shows up in. Fresher titles and faster response tend to move win per unit first; hold follows the game mix. Both are your own numbers against a neutral market line — not a verdict on anyone.
A month that looks like a collapse is often just that month. Laid over the same months a year earlier, a seasonal dip and a real decline stop looking alike.
Seasonality check: July → August moved −1% this year vs −4% a year ago — so a normal seasonal dip isn't mistaken for a real decline.
Your town's market
Whiteside County's total gaming income is +1% year over year (trailing 3 months vs the same 3 a year ago).
Your own gameset is −29% over the same-month-last-year comparison — the town's tide explains part of the move; it isn't all your gameset.
A deeper operator read
The same history, cut the way a Terminal Operator cuts it when they decide how hard to compete for your gameset.
Your operator
Linked to your Location as of August 2026 — the Illinois Gaming Board publishes this each month, so a recent change may not show yet.
Year over year
Your NTI is −29% down year over year, trailing the Whiteside County market (+0%).
Takeaways
A gameset doing these numbers is the one Operators compete hardest for — and most owners never find out what that competition is worth, because they never put it out to bid.
Full August 2026 report detail
Source: Illinois Gaming Board monthly video gaming reports. This is public data about your own licensed Location, shown for informational purposes.