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Thursday, April 20, 2006

New Slots Put to the Test

To customers at Barona Valley Ranch, the slots in a 20-machine bank don't
appear to be much different than any of the casino's 1,980 other games. But
for officials of the East San Diego County American Indian casino and
gambling equipment maker International Game Technology, the 20 games
represent the beginning of a breakthrough in the future makeup of slot
floors.Barona is the first California casino to test market server-based
gaming developed by IGT. The system could, conceivably, let casino customers
change games on a slot machine with a few clicks of a computer mouse.

Most of the major slot machine manufacturers are researching and developing
server-based systems, also referred to as downloadable technology.

Slot makers said they think server-based gaming could remake casino floors
by the end of decade. Slot machine boxes would have pull-down menus of
different games, denominations, wagering limits and payouts. Customers could
tailor-make their play.

For now, Barona casino managers can only perform simple tasks.

"Really, this is just the first step," said Lee Skelley, assistant general
manager of casino operations at Barona. "We're very comfortable with Version
1, which is what we have here now. It's worked exactly like IGT told us it
would. The next step is Version 1.2, and we'll put that out on the floor
when it's ready."

From a central server, Barona officials can swap out a game's wagering
denomination or change features, such as the maximum number of coins played.
Skelley said the casino has moved game titles between boxes, swapping
"Russian Treasures" with "Snow Globe," through the server. But floor
personnel had to change out the slot machine title glass.

"What we're being told is that the next version will have LCD
(liquid-crystal display) screens in place of the top and bottom glass where
the titles will automatically change out," Skelley said.

Barona was selected by IGT as the California test casino because of its
history with IGT. When it opened in 2003, the 300,000-square-foot casino
equipped all of its 2,000 slot machines with ticket in-ticket out
technology.

On the ultrahigh-limit slot machines in Barona's two private gaming lounges,
the machines use fingerprint screening to allow for in-house cash transfers
from a customer's account in the casino cage directly to the $500 and $1,000
minimum bet machines.

"Barona is one of the real proponents of technology on the casino floor,"
said Patrick Cavanaugh, IGT's executive director of investor relations.
"They have very progressive management and their customers understand new
casino technology."

He said the testing at Barona, which could proceed well into 2007, was the
first stage in experimenting with the core technology of server-based
gaming. A similar test is taking place at Treasure Island.

It may be some time next year before slot players interact actively with
server-based technology. Customers didn't seem to notice they were taking
part in what could be a casino-changing event.

On Wednesday afternoon, 18 of the 20 sever-based machines at Barona had
players wagering away.

"It does OK for me," said Barona customer Jon Larson of nearby Ramona,
Calif., figuring he was playing just any other slot machine. "I'm winning,
so I'm happy."

Said Skelley: "For the customers, they really aren't seeing anything
different yet. Our mantra is that we will look at any new technology, but we
want to know what it will do for our customers. Does the technology make the
experience better for our customers?"

Skelley said Barona would offer as much feedback as possible to IGT in time
for the next phase of testing.

posted by Jerry "Jet" Whittaker at 4/20/2006 05:04:00 AM

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Thursday, April 20, 2006

New Slots Put to the Test

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