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Shuffle Master, IGT and Progressive Gaming Announce Worldwide Product Integration Agreement
15 June 2005
Shuffle Master, Inc. (NASDAQ National Market: SHFL - News), International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT - News) and Progressive Gaming International Corporation (NASDAQ National Market: PGIC - News) today announced a worldwide product integration agreement to create a comprehensive, automated table management solution using complementary capabilities, technologies, and resources of the three companies.
Under the terms of the agreement, Shuffle Master will be the provider of automatic card shufflers, card reading intelligent shoes, card and chip sorters and verifiers. IGT will be the provider of back-end table gaming management systems, including player tracking, patron loyalty and rewards, as well as bonusing applications. Progressive Gaming will be the provider of RFID bet recognition, automated gaming chip tracking and payoff recognition. Each company will cooperatively interface their respective products into a combined product offering to be known as the Intelligent Table System ("ITS"). The agreement also provides a framework for the cooperative development of new technologies and products that build on automated table management and real-time monitoring of player activity.
Mark L. Yoseloff, Shuffle Master Chairman and Chief Executive Officer commented, "The development of a comprehensive table management system solution is a very large and complex undertaking. Rather than each company attempting to invent the technology independently of one another, we have decided to combine our collective efforts, with the goal being to bring this technology to market in a more timely and cost effective manner for the benefit of our casino customers." Yoseloff concluded, "We are looking forward to partnering with IGT and Progressive Gaming on this important technology initiative."
Rich Schneider, President of IGT's Gaming Systems Division, remarked, "The strategic and competitive value of well implemented casino management and patron loyalty systems has been well established in recent years. We see the extension of this technology into the table games area as the next logical phase in the expansion of these products. We are very pleased to join Shuffle Master and Progressive Gaming as part of this initiative. It is clear to us that the combination of each company's intellectual property and technology can result in products that are superior to those that any one company could develop independently."
Russ McMeekin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Progressive Gaming stated: "We believe the gaming industry on a global basis is in an excellent position to fully adopt a comprehensive table management system. The technology has evolved to the right level for casinos to recognize very compelling benefits. It is our goal to exceed the expectations of our customers for increasing revenues and profitability from using a table management solution developed through this arrangement."
Shuffle Master, Inc. is a gaming supply company specializing in providing its casino customers Utility Products, including automatic card shufflers, intelligent table systems, and roulette chip sorters, to improve their profitability, productivity and security, and Entertainment Products, including proprietary table games and Table Master(TM) games to expand their gaming entertainment content. The Company is included in the S&P Smallcap 600 Index. Information about the Company and its products can be found on the Internet at www.shufflemaster.com.
International Game Technology (http://www.IGT.com) is a global company specializing in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and sales of computerized gaming machines and systems products. For further Investor Relations information please contact Pat Cavanaugh at 866-296-4232.
Progressive Gaming International is a leading supplier of Integrated Casino Management Systems Software and Games for the gaming industry worldwide. The Company develops and distributes an expanding array of slot and table games, plus management and progressive jackpot software systems. For further Investor Relations information please contact Michael A. Sicuro at 702-263-2505.
This release contains forward-looking statements that are based on management's current beliefs and expectations about future events, as well as on assumptions made by and information available to management. The Companies consider such statements to be made under the safe harbor created by the federal securities laws to which they are subject, and assume no obligation to update or supplement such statements. Forward-looking statements reflect and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include, but are not limited to, the following: changes in the level of consumer or commercial acceptance of the Companies' existing products and new products as introduced; advances by competitors; acceleration and/or deceleration of various product development, promotion and distribution schedules; product performance issues; higher than expected manufacturing, service, selling, administrative, product development, promotion and/or distribution costs; changes in the Companies' business systems or in technologies affecting the Companies' products or operations; reliance on strategic relationships with distributors and technology and manufacturing vendors; results from current and/or future litigation or claims; tax matters, including changes in tax legislation or assessments by taxing authorities; acquisitions or divestitures by the Companies or its competitors of various product lines or businesses and, in particular, integration of businesses that the Companies may acquire; changes to the Companies' intellectual property portfolio, such as the issuance of new patents, new intellectual property licenses, loss of licenses, claims of infringement or invalidity of patents; regulatory and jurisdictional issues (e.g., technical requirements and changes, delays in obtaining necessary approvals, or changes in a jurisdiction's regulatory scheme or approach, etc.) involving the Companies and their products specifically or the gaming industry in general; general and casino industry economic conditions; the financial health of the Companies' casino and distributor customers, suppliers and distributors, both nationally and internationally; the Companies' ability to meet their debt service obligations and to refinance their indebtedness, which will depend on their future performance and other conditions or events and will be subject to many factors that are beyond the Companies' control; and various risks related to the Companies' customers' operations in countries outside the United States, including currency fluctuation risks, which could increase the volatility of the Companies' results from such operations. Additional information on these and other risk factors that could potentially affect the Companies' financial results may be found in documents filed by the Companies with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the their current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and annual report on Form 10-K.
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Contact:
Shuffle Master, Inc., Las Vegas
Mark L. Yoseloff, Ph.D. or Richard Baldwin, 702-897-7150
Fax: 702-270-5161
or
Investor Relations Advisor
Tom Ryan, 203-682-8200
Fax: 203-682-8201
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Source: Shuffle Master, Inc.
Source: Business Wire
All trademarks and copyrighted information contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
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