January 24, 1983

About this time last year, the coin-operated video games that Genovese Drug Stores had installed in some of its outlets seemed a welcome way to perk up cash flow. As shoppers dropped their quarters into the machines to do battle with electronic attackers, store managers saw the units as a novel source of revenue that required the outlay of only a small amount of space in return. But now, said Donald Gross, vice president of marketing for the chain, which has its headquarters in Melville, L.I., that early optimism has faded. ''We'll probably be phasing them back,'' he said.

New York State's new system of collecting gasoline sales taxes has resulted in widespread evasion and the loss of revenue for the state, New York City and the suburban counties, according to officials of the state and the fuel industry. Representatives of nine major gasoline companies and suppliers in the metropolitan area have warned state officials that the cheating, if unchecked, could cost the state, city and nearby suburban counties as much as $100 million this year. Fabian Palomino, special counsel to Governor Cuomo, said Mr. Cuomo had ordered an inquiry to determine if the system should be revised. ''These charges seem to be credible,'' said Mr. Palomino, who has met recently with executives of the fuel companies. ''We are not sure of the extent of the tax losses, but even if it is not $100 million, $60 million or $70 million is a hell of a lot of money we should not be losing.''

OPEC oil ministers agreed today to reduce the total projected amount of oil that the group's 13 members would produce this year. One minister said that Saudi Arabia would bear the brunt of the reduction. But a serious dispute remained over how to adjust oil prices to reflect differences in quality. The ministers emerged this evening from a closed four-hour meeting with widely varying assessments of the progress made toward bridging deep differences within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries about how to avert a price war.

Here in El Salvador, the Government is holding more than 700 people in prison under suspicion of subversive activity. There are, for the most part, no formal charges, no trials, no definite sentences. Some of those who make it to prison are considered the lucky ones, however. Other less fortunate suspects are abducted from their homes and never seen again, or are later found dead and sometimes mutilated on the dusty roadsides or in the scrubby fields of the countryside. To varying degrees, this kind of situation has become commonplace in many parts of Central America. Although the number of people dying at the hands of their governments has decreased over the last several months, the state of human rights in many parts of the region remains grim.

The Eurobond market staggered last week after beginning 1983 with a record-shattering wave of new issues that had left observers and participants agreeing that some of the banks and other institutions that manage such issues might have let their competitive instincts get out of hand. ''Many of the issues are now trading at significant discounts and there's a monumental amount of unsold paper around,'' said David Watkins, head of new issues at Goldman, Sachs & Company. A wide variety of borrowers, including Sweden, the World Bank and major American companies such as Coca-Cola, Texaco and Time Inc., floated bonds and notes worth a total of $5.1 billion through Jan. 14 as bond management houses vied with one another for the chance to bring them to market. The flow of new issues abated last week, although there were still 11 dollar-denominated ones totaling $1.25 billion and several more in other currencies.