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Posted At : September 8, 2008 02:54 PM | Posted By : D McKee
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Harrah's,IGT,Illinois
Lifetimes ago (i.e., the late 20th century), I recall reading an article about International Game Technology in which IGT executives expressed some frustration at having 'only' two-thirds of the Australian market and not the 75% they wanted. Then and more many years thereafter, it seemed as though IGT's Borg-like absorption of every company and market in its path was a pure inevitability.
Times sure have changed, as this analysis of IGT's current predicament makes clear. The only point that begs further elaboration is: Why is IGT having trouble selling replacement machines? If I had to make an educated guess, it's because IGT went whole hog into the themed-slot craze, licensing titles by the trainload. But, as manufacturers discovered, a themed slot with Joe Average game content is just another box on the floor, as far as players are concerned. IGT wasn't the only company that chased that elusive grail but nobody else did it with such gusto.
Small wonder, given IGT's current woes, that Harrah's Entertainment chose this moment to pick a fight over shared-revenue games, specifically "Wheel of Fortune." Even in early '99, when the casinos-vs.-slotmakers acrimony was at its height, nobody dared take on IGT so confrontationally as that.
Illinois casinos stink. Not the facilities, which are now smoke-free. No, it's the revenues which cause one to recoil, with August's year/year comparisons falling into two categories: Poor and Awful (except for tiny Casino Rock Island, just $100K off last August's pace -- tantamount to a triumph in this context). Since adjoining states aren't seeing any great uptick in casino business, one is forced to conclude that the true impact of the Illinois smoking ban is both obscured and exaggerated by the ongoing effects of the recession. Business is bad and there's no getting around it.
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