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Peak Performance IGT continues to manage a diverse range of products that excel in a growing number of market areas BY FRANK LEGATO
M
ost observers of the gaming industry are aware of the history of International Game Technology, LLC. The company that the late Si Redd started as A-1 Supply in 1975 was created by Redd to market a product he had refined when he was working for Bally Manufacturing in the mid-1970s, video poker. As the story goes, Bally—then the king of the slot world—had declined to market the poker machines, granting Redd the rights to market them on his own. By the time the new company, known as Sircoma by 1978, went public as International Game Technology in 1981, video poker was one of the hottest attractions on slot floors in Nevada and Atlantic City. IGT, of course, has evolved several times over since then, various acquisitions and mergers taking the company into product areas from casino management systems to lotteries, while still achieving decadeslong dominance of the gaming machine market—stepper and video reels, video poker. The IGT of today looks quite different than the IGT that introduced the legendary Wheel of Fortune slot machine precisely 25 years ago. But talk to anyone at IGT today, and the impression is that this is a story still being written. The company seems to be in perpetual motion when it comes to product development, including spreading the supplier’s footprint into as many new product areas and new markets as possible. As for the slot product, again, perpetual motion. New cabinets are launched every year, along with games carefully designed to maximize the features of the hardware. IGT developers continue to maintain a strict regimen of research, from focus groups to live test banks, to improve and expand the company’s slot library. At the same time, the company continues to improve its electronic table game product, one of many examples of seizing an opportunity in a surging market. Meanwhile, IGT’s R&D muscle is being applied to a number of newly emerging product areas, as the company moves to take its proven content to any number of new markets and new channels. IGT’s video lottery business and Class II business both are growing across North America. The company has moved into the historical horse racing market, and is one of the leading providers of content to the rapidly growing online gaming market. 28
Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2021
IGT executives Ken Bossingham, senior vice president of sales; Cari Blomquist, vice president, Core Game Studio; and Domenico Pastia, senior vice president of global product
IGT also is one of the leading platform suppliers in the emerging sports betting market, another business segment that is rapidly growing. On the system side, the company’s IGT Advantage casino management system itself is in an advanced state of evolution, the latest in its cashless, cardless slot play solution, the only turnkey solution available to address the sudden demand for an option to cash-handling and a contact-free experience brought on by the lingering pandemic. As IGT’s range of products continues to grow, the company relies on top executives like Nick Khin, senior vice president and chief operating officer, to manage what has become a remarkably diverse range of products. Khin attributes IGT’s success to how his teams are organized, and the talent heading those teams. That includes executives like Domenico Pastia, senior vice president of global product; Ken Bossingham, senior vice president of sales; and of course, those on the front lines of product development, such as Cari Blomquist, vice president of IGT’s Core Game Studio.
