IGT Intends to Sell Las Vegas Headquarters, Move Manufacturing to Reno
International Game Technology, the number one manufacturer of American slot machines, is planning to sell its Las Vegas corporate headquarters. IGT was bought by Italian gaming company, GTECH Holdings, in 2014 and the two gaming giants are combining operations.
The two companies’ merger was completed recently. Marco Sala, the former CEO of GTECH, is now the CEO of International Game Technology. To commemorate that change, Marco Sala was in New York City on April 7 to ring the opening bell on the New York Stock Exchange.
IGT/GTECH is big news in the financial industry, and even bigger news in the gambling industry.
World’s Largest Gambling Company
The $6.4 billion merger between GTECH and IGT created the world’s largest gambling company. At the time of the merger, it was speculated that IGT was likely to move its HQ out of the United States. That was confrmed last week by CEO Marco Sala at the IGT quarterly meeting.
Mr. Sala was providing details of the IGT’s quarterly earnings when he said that company would sell its massive Las Vegas campus. After the sell, IGT will continue to maintain regional headquarters in Providence, Rhode Island, in Rome, Italy, and in London, England.
Regional HQ to Remain in Vegas
GTECH is going to keep an IGT regional headquarters in Las Vegas, but they want to find a smaller building. This would make more sense for their scaled-down Las Vegas operations. At present, the current headquarters has 600,000 square feet, with 300,000 square feet of that area set aside for the manufacture of slot machines.
Brain Gordon, a financial adviser for Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis, says that the current IGT location is the largest of its kind in the state. Mr. Gordon believes the building might attract another slot machine manufacturer, because of the infrastructure set up to accommodate such operations.
O’Shaughessey Says IGT to Stay in USA
Phil O’Shaughnessy, a spokesman for IGT, said that GTECH intends on maintaining most of its operations in the United States. GTECH intends on maintaining the manufacturing operations in the United States and in Nevada. Marco Sala said manufacturing assets are expected to be moved to Reno, Nevada. The company’s U.S. lottery operations are expected to be managed through the Rhode Island facilities.
One location in Rhode Island is expected to be closed next year, along with facilities in Canada and Australia. IGT’s chief executive says he expects the company to save $280 million over the next 3 years from the closings. When the closing was announced, shares of IGT gained 25 cents, which is 1.38% of the stock price.
About IGT
International Game Technology began operations in the 1950s, building slot machines for the burgeoning American market. Following the success of its electronic slot machines and video poker machines in the late-1970s and early-1980s, IGT went public in 1981. Along the way, IGT has been one of the leaders in innovation. Besides leading on the electronic gaming machine revolution, IGT bought Electronic Data Technologies and became the leader on electronic data tracking system. This meant IGT was the first and best slot machine company at offering slots clubs advantages, which put it way ahead of the competition.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, IGT continued to be an innovator in the use of video game style electronic graphics, special interactive game features, and the proliferation of big jackpots. The Wheel of Fortune slot machine was an innovator in the progressive jackpot field, while MegaBucks was a leader in the rapid increase in the size of progressive jackpots. To this day, MegaBucks still dominates the Top 10 list of largest progressive jackpots ever. IGT is a leader in licensed slot machines. It has produced many game show slots, including Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The Price Is Right, Let’s Make a Deal, The Newlywed Game, the Dating Game, and The $1,000,000 Pyramid (and its $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramid options). TV shows like Sex and the City and The Amazing Race have had their own licensed slot machines. Pop culture phenomena like Elvis and Star Wars each got their games, too.
While IGT is a large operator in the US land-based casino industry, it has a large international and online footprint. IGT is a top producer of brick-and-mortar slot machines in Australia, for example. IGT is also a provider of top gaming software, licensing its famous slot machines as online video slots to some of the largest and most successful online casinos on the Internet.
About GTECH Holdings
GTECH is a private holding company formed in 1990 and owned by the De Agonistini Group. GTECH S.p.A. is the world’s largest lottery company. It owns parts or all of lotteries in the United States, Latin America, the Caribbean, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The American division of the company is GTECH Corporation, which which itself it in the slot machine, Video Lottery Terminal, scratchcard, and lottery software industries.
With the vast wealth taken from lotteries around the globe, GTECH was able to purchase IGT for $6.4 billion. Changes were expected to come, but in the second year after the takeover, it looks like those changes are starting to happen.
