International Game Technology PLC, formerly Gtech S.p.A. And Lottomatica S.p.A., is a multinational gaming company that produces slot machines and other gaming technology. IGT is one of the leading companies that design, develop, manufacture and distribute slot machines around the world. IGT has manufactured a wide variety of slot machines which you can find on IGT casino floors today. IGT gaming machines are excellent examples of products developed through innovative thinking and the use of the latest technology.
Churchill Downs Inc.’s Calder Casino in South Florida is in danger of losing its slots license after an administrative law judge ruled that the operation is not compliant with state law because of the absence of a “contiguous and connected” building from which to conduct wagering on live racing.
Without compliant live racing, Calder would not have been able to maintain a slots license, which it first acquired in 2009. Live race meets at Calder are now operated by Gulfstream Park under the name Gulfstream Park West, even though the Calder grandstand was razed in 2015.
Administrative law judge John G. Van Laningham on Friday issued a recommendation that Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, enter a final order denying Calder’s application for renewal of a slot machine license for the fiscal year 2018-19. The recommendation could jeopardize a renewal of the annual license, which expires July 9, 2019.
It wasn’t immediately clear how the recommendation may affect Calder’s scheme to eventually connect a pari-mutuel permit for a recently opened jai-alai fronton on the Calder property to the slots casino.
The 2018-19 renewal of the Calder slots license was challenged by the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, even though it could cost horsemen millions of dollars in annual purses. Under the current agreement between the FHBPA and Calder, 10% of slots revenue goes to purses, about $9 million of $90 million in annual slots revenue. That agreement expires Dec. 31, 2010.
The FHBPA challenged whether the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, violated Florida statute in approving Calder’s slots license when the casino was built in a separate building that was not directly adjacent to the racetrack’s grandstand. The law approving slots states that a gaming facility may be located in a separate building if it is “contiguous and connected to” the facility for wagering on live races.
Van Laningham wrote that the requirement “thus guards against the slot machine operation from becoming the tail that wags the dog, by requiring at least a kind of structural parity between the live gaming area (for racing) and the slots machine building.”
Following a similar arrangement at the Pompano Park harness track and slots casino, the Department of Business and Professional Regulation said a covered walkway between the slots and live wagering buildings would suffice to remain compliant.
However, when the Calder grandstand was torn down and the live racing area moved to the apron of the racetrack, there was no covered walkway or permanent building in which to wager.
“Consider Calder’s current configuration,” Van Laningham wrote. “For slot machines, there is a new casino. For live gaming, in stark contrast, there is a collapsible canopy tent where the grandstand used to be, near the apron, and some outdoor seating, trackside. The unmistakable message is that the live horse races, having declined in popularity, have been degraded, demoted, reduced to second-class status; horse racing is no longer the main attraction, but an afterthought.
“Almost certainly, the legislature wanted to prevent slot machine gaming from cannibalizing the preexisting live gaming business, which would be a reasonably foreseeable consequence of building a brand new slot machine gaming facility or casino at some distance from the current live gaming (racing) facility.”
Florida statute “clearly and unambiguously mandates that the live gaming facility (for racing) be a building,” Van Laningham wrote in his opinion. “Calder’s current ‘live viewing area’ is not a compliant ‘live gaming facility.’
“Because Calder does not have a compliant live gaming (racing) facility, its casino is not ‘contiguous and connected to’ a live gaming facility as required by (statute). Even if Calder’s ‘live viewing area’ were a compliant live gaming (racing) facility, which it is not, Calder’s slots machine building is not ‘contiguous and connected to’ the ‘live viewing area.’
“Based on the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, it is RECOMMENDED that the Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering, enter a final order denying Calder’s application for renewal of its slot machine license for the fiscal year 2018-19.”
In the wake of the recommendation by the administrative law judge to strip the Calder Casino of its slots license, Florida HBPA president Stephen Screnci said, “It’s unfortunate it came down to this. If they had followed the statute that was required, none of this would have been necessary.”
The post Calder Casino May Lose Slots License appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
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They don't really come any bigger than IGT. International Game Technology boasts around half the slot machines in US casinos, and their online output is impressive enough to suggest the developer isn't just a land-based player. In fact, there are few slots manufacturers around today that have so completely cornered both live and online markets.
The slots world was shocked by the firm's takeover by GTECH in 2014 but it did nothing to change the reputation of a firm that's undergone many alterations and takeovers but has remained a major player across the world.
From popular land-based slots (some times called Vegas Slots) to the biggest progressives around, and online slots that keep the welcome bonus hunter occupied, things don't look like slowing down anytime soon for IGT.
About IGT
IGT started out life as A-1 Supply, developing video poker and blackjack games, and slot machines. Founder William 'Si' Redd changed the name to SIRCOMA (an abbreviation of Si Redd Coin Machines) and went public as International Game Technology in 1981.
Incredibly, sales of the firm's machines rose from a few million bucks in 1975 to over $60 million just seven years later, IGT boasting about 90 percent of the video gaming market in Nevada.
It wasn't until 1986 that IGT's technological revolutions sent the company into the stratosphere.
The firm developed the Player's Edge Video Poker machine as well as one of the first microprocessor-operated machines - the S-Slot - while also investing in lottery ticket terminals in some US states.
By the late 1980s, IGT controlled the market share and celebrated its position by introducing the Megacbucks slot machine in 1987. The world's first progressive jackpot slot allowed players to connect across networks and multiple casinos to create some truly 'mega' jackpot prizses.
In the late 1990s, IGT focused its attentions on the British market with a buyout of Barcrest Gaming, in one fell swoop snapping up the giant of the UK fruit machine market.
The 2005 acquisition of WagerWorks provided IGT with the platform it needed for the growing online slots market. It enabled the US player to bring a lot of its popular land-based slots to the online casino world.
But amid an era of takeovers and mergers, it was the giant's acquisition by Italian tech firm GTECH in 2014 that really caught the attention. The sale went through for $6.4 billion (made up of $4.7 billion cash and $1.7 billion of debt).
Free to Play IGT Slot Machine Games
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Popular IGT Slots
Let's get down to the business; when it comes to some of the most popular slot machines around, IGT titles are up there.
Wheel of Fortune, and its many variants and upgrades, features a real-life spinning wheel atop the slot machine which is triggered by lining up special symbols on the reels.
Taking the 'wheel' bonus to another level, however, is the big-brand video slot based on the hit Hollywood film, Sherlock Holmes.
Featuring five reels and 30 paylines, actual characters and video footage from the Guy Ritchie-directed film accompanies the play. The wheel spin bonus awards progressive jackpots galore and $1 million payouts are not uncommon.
In Calder Casino What Slot Machines Are Igt Slot Machines
Enjoyed in land-based casinos the world over, as well as the best online casino sites, Cleopatra is the Egyptian-themed slot to end all Egyptian-themed slots (sorry, Book of Ra).
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Five Cleopatra symbols on a payline triggers a 10,000-line bet jackpot, while a free spins bonus awards 15x multiplier.
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Da Vinci Diamonds, meanwhile, is the online slot that casinos never tire of using to attract new real-cash depositors. The game features IGT's trademark 'Tumbling Reels' where winning combinations disappear to allow symbols above to fall into their place. In both land-based and online casinos, the Da Vinci Diamonds Dual Play format features two game screens where symbols 'tumble thru' the top set of reels onto the bottom one.
Elsewhere, IGT's Multiway Xtra range of slots like Siberian Storm offer something different - and 72- possible paylines - but newer slots like Bubble Craze have tapped into a desire from slots players to see something a bit different in the lobby.
One of a new breed of arcade-style slots, Bubble Craze is played over a honeycomb-style set of reels where 'bubbles' rise from the bottom to form connecting paylines.
Progressive Jackpot Games
Where do you start but with Megabucks? Developed in the 1980s as the first progressive jackpot 'wide area' slot machine to carry a $1 million jackpot, it quickly became popular with slots players across the US.
The game has been responsible for some ridiculously big winners, but perhaps none bigger than the software engineer who bagged a $39 million jackpot in 2003 playing at the Excalibur casino in Las Vegas.
Other IGT Games
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IGT is just about slots. In 1997 the firm introduced its 'MegaSports' system that allowed sports bettors to gamble on sports in Vegas more efficiently. At the same time, it devised computerised systems to keep track of gambling activity on every game in a casino and award personalized bonuses to players - a first.
In 2000 IGT brought out its millionth machine and developed the innovative 'MultiPLAY' machine which allowed players in casinos to play up to four video slots at the same time.
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More recently, IGT has attempted a move into the social gaming market with its DoubleDown Casino app. The social casino, available through Facebook, boasts over six million players and features some of the developer's most popular slots like Siberian Storm and Cleopatra. Video poker, blackjack and roulette are also available as part of the Player's Suite.