Slot Maker IGT and DigiDeal Dissolves Three Year Electronic Casino Table Games Partnership

Well-known slot machine maker IGT (International Game Technology) is ending its partnership with electronic casino table games provider DigiDeal, permitting the smaller organization to expand out on its own.

The announcement on May 7th, 2010 dissolves a 2007 deal that established IGT as the majority owner of DigiDeal and rewarded IGT the exclusive rights to create and market DigiDeal casino table games all over the world.

Under the new distribution and manufacturing deal, DigiDeal, which is based in Spokane, Washington, will now sell its gaming products directly to consumers. With the next few months, the previous deal between the two groups will be officially dissolved and IGT will no longer possess an equity share in DigiDeal.

DigiDeal CEO Michael Kuhn said that they had benefited a lot with working closely with International Game Technology for the past three years and it allowed them to mature considerably as game developers. Kuhn said that considering many gaming markets only permit or are shifting to electronic multiple player casino table games, he is excited about the future of DigiDeal.

IGT's head of corporate development, Craig Billings, said that the deal permits the slot machine manufacture to shift its focus on its core products.

Macquarie Securities gaming analyst Joel Simkins said that the announcement closely follows IGT's focus in the previous year to slowly remove itself from businesses which has a low return on investment Simkins said that the discontinuation of this collaboration shows where IGT's focus is on going forward.

Simkins added that decision such as this only prove that IGT's management hopes to remove itself from non-core businesses and focus on opportunities that have high-return value.

Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets gaming analyst Steven Wieczynski said that casino table games manufacturer Shuffle Master should experience an immediate improvement by the news because IGT is stepping away from the electronic casino table games market.

Sunday, 30 May 2010
Marissa Patterson