HELENA, Mont. -- People bet $868.3 million on legal gambling activities in Montana in fiscal 2004, or $944 for every man, woman and child living here, the state's Gambling Control Division has reported in its biennial report.

That's a 7.8 percent increase over the $804.8 million wagered in Montana in fiscal 2003. In fiscal 2002, the total for all forms of legalized gambling was $761.4 million.

The big draw in 2004, as it has been for the past 15 years, was video poker and keno machines, where $814.2 million was wagered for 93.8 percent of the total legally bet in Montana. The Montana Lottery was a distant second at $36.7 million or 4.2 percent.

Dividing up the remaining 2 percent of the wagers were simulcast racing at $7.5 million, commercial live bingo at $4.8 million, commercial live keno at $2.9 million and live horse racing bringing up the rear at $2.2 million.

Video gambling machines paid $50.1 million in taxes to the state and local government in fiscal 2004, up 9 percent from the previous year.

In 2004, Montana had an average of 18,192 electronic gambling machines that showed gross average income of $18,350 each, up 7.9 percent from 2003.

Montana's single most profitable machine in 2004 was one in Lewis and Clark County that had $190,626 in gross income. By law, state regulators can't name the establishment where the machine is located.

The gross income is calculated by taking the money paid into a machine, minus the winnings paid out. That result is taxed at a 15 percent rate. The calculation can't be made with some of these figures in this report because of promotions and other factors.

Twenty-six, or 3 percent, of Montana's 920 gambling establishments reported gross incomes exceeding $1 million each for all of their machine in 2004, while 146 or 16 percent had gross income ranging from $500,000 to $1 million. The maximum number of gambling machines allowed is 20 per bar or casino.

On the other end, 21 percent or 195 establishments reported gross income of less than $25,000.

The report also found that 208 or 2 percent of the state's 9,118 machines in 2004 grossed between $75,000 and $110,000 apiece annually. At other end, 1,220 machines or 13 percent of the total grossed less than $5,000 each.

Gene Huntington, administrator of the Gambling Control Division in the state Justice Department, said legislative actions in recent sessions have led to increased gambling.

In 1999, the Legislature passed a bill to allow the state to electronically monitor the machines to determine how much in taxes are owed, Huntington said. In 2003, he said, the Legislature passed a law that allowed owners of machines that would agree to electronic monitoring to offer both video poker or keno on the same machine.

"What it did is broke what I call the software jam," Huntington said. "It allowed manufacturers to bring out new lines of software. It has less to do than having both games on one machine. But the advances in video games, animation, color, sound probably allowed them to put new software in that the industry says has more entertainment value for the customers."

"The numbers sure shocked me," said Rich Miller, executive director of Gaming Industry Association of Montana, which represents casinos. He said casino owners have enhanced their promotions and offered more entertainment value through new machines because the law "gave the owners an incentive to invest in new equipment."

The stable taxation and regulatory environment under Gov. Judy Martz and Attorney General Mike McGrath also was a big help, Miller said.

He wasn't sure if he agreed with Huntington that the increased gambling could be partially attributed to an improved economy.

"Dad always said, 'When the economy is bad, bar business is good. When the economy is good, the bar business is good,' " Miller said.