Funding a Business With Gaming Revenue: Bars, Truck Stops and Route Operators
By MercFinancial · Published 2026-10-21
A bar, truck stop or convenience store with video gaming terminals is two businesses to a lender, and a route operator is a gaming business outright. How each is funded and how to present the gaming line cleanly.
A business with video gaming terminal revenue is financed as two businesses: lenders underwrite the bar, fuel or store on its own and treat the gaming line as regulated revenue they either exclude, discount or, for the few that accept it, count with the regulator's reports in hand. Where the gaming share stays at or below one-third of gross revenue, a bar or truck stop remains SBA-eligible on paper. A route or terminal operator, whose entire revenue is its share of terminal income, is a gaming business and is funded by private real estate lenders, licensed equipment lessors and private credit instead.
This guide covers how lenders read a mixed-revenue business, the specific products for bars and restaurants with machines, for truck stops and convenience stores, and for route operators, how to present the gaming line so it helps rather than hurts, an illustrative comparison, and how a brokerage places each kind of file.
- A bar or truck stop with gaming revenue at or below one-third of gross annual revenue is not ineligible for SBA loans under 13 CFR 120.110(g).
- Lenders that accept a bar or store with gaming machines commonly exclude or discount the gaming line and size the loan on the non-gaming cash flow.
- A route or terminal operator's revenue is entirely gaming, so it is funded outside the SBA by licensed equipment lessors, private credit and real estate lenders.
- In states with video gaming terminal programs, the location and the terminal operator split net terminal income on a formula the statute or contract sets.
To a lender the gaming room is a tenant with a regulator, and the bar has to carry the loan without it.
How lenders read a business with a gaming line
A lender looking at a tavern with five terminals, a truck stop with a gaming room or a convenience store with lottery and skill games sees two businesses sharing an address. The first is the operating business it knows how to underwrite: food, beverage, fuel, merchandise. The second is a regulated revenue stream that depends on a license the lender cannot take, a regulator who can revoke it and, in most terminal states, an operator the business does not control who owns the machines.
Lenders handle the second business one of three ways. Most exclude the gaming line entirely and size the loan on the rest. Some discount it, counting a portion toward repayment because the history is long and the regulator's reports are clean. A few, usually private lenders and regional banks in terminal states, count it in full. Which treatment a file gets is a placement question before it is a credit question. The SBA's own test is a threshold rather than a discount: at or below one-third of gross annual revenue from legal gambling the business is not ineligible, above it no SBA lender can write it, as explained in the SBA one-third gambling rule explained.
Bars and restaurants with gaming machines
In the states that run video gaming terminal programs, a bar or restaurant holds a location license, a licensed terminal operator owns and services the machines, and the two split net terminal income on a formula set by statute or contract after prizes and the state's share. The bar's gaming revenue is that split, reported monthly by the regulator, and it is the number lenders use.
The products that fit a bar with machines are the products that fit any bar, with the gaming line handled separately. An SBA 7(a) loan is possible from a lender that accepts gaming revenue when the share is at or below one-third, with the loan sized on food and beverage. A private or community bank real estate loan funds an owner-occupied building, often counting a discounted gaming line toward coverage. Kitchen, bar and point-of-sale equipment finance in the ordinary way. Revenue-based financing advances against the bar's card receipts, which exclude gaming since terminal income is settled through the operator rather than the card processor.
Truck stops and convenience stores
Truck stops with gaming rooms exist because several states tie terminal eligibility to the location's character: a site qualifies as a truck stop by selling a threshold volume of diesel, holding a minimum acreage or offering parking and services, and the gaming room follows. Lenders know this, and the first thing they check is that the location still meets the threshold, because losing it ends the gaming revenue overnight.
Fuel volume is also what keeps most truck stops under the SBA's one-third line, since gross fuel sales are large even when the margin is thin. The capital stack is real estate heavy: the land, the canopy, the tanks and the building are financed by private, non-bank or community bank CRE lenders, with environmental review on the tanks as a condition. Fuel supplier financing commonly funds the canopy and dispensers, and the store's equipment finances conventionally. Lottery commissions are read as retail revenue by most lenders, with the SBA treatment confirmed by the lender. A store with skill games in a state where their legality is unsettled has a different problem: the lender treats that line as a liability, not revenue, and may decline the file until it is removed.
Route and terminal operators
A route or terminal operator is a gaming business with no non-gaming line. Its revenue is its share of net terminal income across every location it serves, its assets are the machines it owns and the location contracts it has signed, and its license is what makes both worth anything. The SBA is closed to it under the one-third rule, and most banks decline it by policy.
Its capital comes from three places. Licensed equipment lessors and manufacturer programs finance the terminals, with the regulator's consent to the lien, as described in gaming equipment financing. Private credit funds write term loans to established operators secured by the machines, the location contracts and, where the regulator permits it, an assignment of terminal income, usually with a personal guaranty. Private commercial real estate lenders finance the warehouse and office. What every lender underwrites is the route itself: how many locations, how long the contracts run, how concentrated the income is in the top locations, and the win per terminal per day by location from the regulator's reports. An operator growing by signing new locations is also asked how it funds the placement costs those contracts carry.
Presenting mixed revenue cleanly
A mixed-revenue file is declined more often for how it is presented than for what it contains.
Gaming income on its own line in the books and the tax return, matching the regulator's monthly reports to the dollar. A lender that has to find the gaming share for itself assumes the worst.
Gross annual revenue, the gaming share and the resulting fraction, on one page, from the most recent complete year. This is the first thing an SBA lender checks.
Terminal income settles from the operator or the state on a schedule. Mark those deposits in the bank statements so the lender can exclude or count them without guessing.
The location license, the terminal operator agreement with its split, and for route operators every location contract with its term. The lender reads these for concentration and renewal risk.
Illustrative example: one tavern, two lenders
Illustrative example: a hypothetical tavern grosses $1,200,000, of which $300,000 is its share of net terminal income and $900,000 is food and beverage. It owns its building and wants $400,000 for a kitchen expansion. An SBA lender that accepts gaming revenue sizes a 7(a) loan on the $900,000 of non-gaming cash flow and excludes the gaming line. A private real estate lender sizes a cash-out refinance on the building and counts a discounted portion of the gaming line toward coverage, which supports a larger loan at a higher cost. The owner compares the two on total cost, term and the covenants the SBA lender attaches.
The figures are round and hypothetical. What matters is that the same gaming line is excluded by one lender and discounted by another, and the file should be placed with both so the owner can choose. The general approach after a bank says no is in the bank-declined business loan playbook.
Where MercFinancial fits
MercFinancial is a commercial funding brokerage in Houston, not a lender. For a bar, truck stop or route operator with gaming revenue, a funding specialist runs the one-third arithmetic from the regulator's reports first, then separates the operating business from the gaming line lenders exclude, discount or count. From more than 160 wholesale and institutional funding sources, the specialist identifies the SBA lenders that accept gaming revenue, the real estate and equipment lenders whose policy allows the use and, for route operators, the licensed lessors and private credit funds that write them. One file goes to all of them and the offers are compared. Availability depends on the funding source, and you are told plainly when a mix cannot be written. The related guides are under gambling and gaming business funding, and the programs under business funding programs.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a bar with video gaming terminals get a business loan?
Yes. The bar is underwritten as a bar, with the gaming line excluded, discounted or counted depending on the lender. An SBA 7(a) loan is possible from a lender that accepts gaming revenue when the bar's share of net terminal income is at or below one-third of gross revenue. Real estate, equipment and revenue-based products are available regardless, sized on the non-gaming cash flow.
Can a route operator get an SBA loan?
No. A route or terminal operator's revenue is entirely its share of terminal income, which is legal gambling revenue, so it exceeds the one-third threshold in 13 CFR 120.110(g). Route operators are financed by licensed equipment lessors and manufacturer programs for the terminals, private credit term loans secured by machines and location contracts, and private real estate lenders for facilities.
Does gaming revenue help or hurt a truck stop loan?
Both, depending on the lender. Most exclude it and size the loan on fuel, store and restaurant revenue, so it neither helps nor hurts. Some discount it toward coverage, which helps. All of them check that the location still meets the state's fuel-sales or other threshold for terminal eligibility, because losing it ends the gaming revenue, and a contested skill-game line hurts everywhere.
How do I show gaming revenue on a loan application?
On its own line, matched to the regulator's monthly reports, with a one-page calculation of gross annual revenue, the gaming share and the resulting fraction for the most recent complete year. Mark the terminal income deposits in the bank statements, and attach the location license and the terminal operator agreement with its split. Lenders decline files that make them find the gaming share themselves.
Can I use revenue-based financing if part of my revenue is gaming?
Yes, against the card receipts that run through your processor. Terminal income settles from the operator or the state rather than through the card processor, so a revenue-based funder advances against food, beverage, fuel and store card volume and does not touch the gaming line. The funder reads processor statements for volume and chargebacks, and the gaming license is a disclosure rather than collateral.
Bring the regulator's reports and your revenue by line, and hear which lenders count the gaming. A funding specialist runs the one-third arithmetic and places the file with the sources that exclude, discount or count it, so you can compare. Stephanie, our AI lending assistant, pre-qualifies in 2-3 minutes with a soft credit pull that won't affect your score, or book a free 30-minute call with a funding specialist at (830) 587-5022.
Get Pre-Qualified with Stephanie Book a Free 30-Minute CallMercFinancial is a commercial funding brokerage in Houston, Texas. MercFinancial is a broker, not a lender: every loan is made by a third-party funding source, every request is subject to that source's underwriting and credit approval, and loan amounts, advance rates, interest rates, terms, fees, collateral and guaranty requirements vary by funding source and borrower and are not guaranteed. Nothing here is a commitment to lend or an offer of credit, and financing is for business purposes only. Any example in this guide is hypothetical and illustrative; actual terms and outcomes vary. Businesses deriving more than one-third of gross annual revenue from legal gambling are ineligible for SBA financing under 13 CFR 120.110(g); gaming is licensed and regulated by each state, and financing availability depends on the funding source's policies. This guide is educational only and is not legal, tax, accounting or investment advice.