p24-27 IGT interview.qxd 3/28/07 9:39 am Page 37
INTERVIEW
JB: We are a proud company with good people who with server-based gaming?
really enjoy the IGT way, and the IGT way is that IGT JB: They are probably just watching it very closely.
really looks after its people. It has a fabulous product I don't know that it’s such a big leap or if they are in
and we take pride in the product. The company is a position where they’re playing catch up. They’ve got
committed and IGT’s only been moving from strength their hawk eyes out and want to make sure that the
to strength. I think our successes can be attributed customer’s protected. They want to make sure in the
directly to the quality of people within the end that it’s done by the book and that things work
organization. the way they should work and correctly so.
“IGT is truly an international
CI: What made you decide, made IGT decide, that
open architecture was the way forward for your
company. It is not IGT
server-based gaming solution?
Domestic versus IGT
JB: It just makes sense for everyone – us and our
customers. We were part of GSA and we broke away
International.” because of differences over IP. We seriously thought
we’d made the right decision, but decided later, it
was to the common good of the industry for everyone
We have a very approachable CEO, TJ Matthews. to be part of GSA as adhering to GSA standards,
Look at his career path and where he’s come from to allows us to interface with other manufacturers
take over from Tom Baker. He’s really taking IGT to machines via our sb product and vice versa. GSA is
the next level. the key to that success.
IGT is truly an international company. It is not IGT
Domestic versus IGT International. Everything we do
is focused on the needs of a world-wide marketplace.
Thats what I think is really driving the successes of
IGT globally right now.
CI: You mentioned trialing server-based gaming...
What kind of feedback have you had and what kind
of things have you had to deal with?
JB: Well, the goal of a trial within a regulated
environment, you want to understand, is to give the
operator the opportunity to get a feel and touch of
what the products about. We share with them our
vision and get some input from the operator to help
us plan and strategize moving forward. At the end of
the day, that product is going to be what the
customer really wants, and what we’re developing, we
know we’re developing in the right direction. It’s also
giving the regulator the touch and feel of what server
based is all about.
It's also important for the regulator of a
jurisdiction to be able to go on the floor, do some
audits, do some checking up and see that the
controls that we say are in place actually do function.
We have different trials running all over the country
in different ways with different versions. This way,
regulators can see different facets of the development
and the end product we’re heading towards. We’ve
found this approach builds trust in us and in the
product.
Feedback from everyone concerned is important as
long as IGT listens and develops in the right
direction. Weve used that concept with our very
successful server-based presentations. We’ve had very
good feedback from all our customers, especially in
terms of our strategy and the ‘secret sauce’ and the
added value stuff. Were getting real input from both
regulators and operators, were listening, and people
are very excited.
CI: Is there a big gap for regulators to negotiate
APRIL 2007 27
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