IGT reports profit due to slot sales and online gaming

Casino supplier International Game Technology today reported a higher profit for its fourth fiscal quarter as revenue improved from slot machine sales to land-based casinos, as well as from social and online gaming.

The company, based in Reno with major Las Vegas operations, said it earned $88.1 million or 33 cents per share in the quarter ending Sept. 30, up from $53.4 million or 18 cents per share in the year-ago period.

IGT's $631.1 million revenue over the period was up from $539.8 million a year earlier.

IGT said that during the just-concluded fiscal year, it shipped 44,200 new and replacement gaming devices to casinos and other customers, an increase of 23 percent. In North America, the average price of those machines increased 2 percent to $14,500.

Full-year interactive revenue, including social gaming and online gaming, grew 293 percent to $144 million.

Future online revenue may be affected by the launch of intrastate online poker in Nevada, where IGT is licensed to participate, as well as the shutdown during the fourth quarter of the company’s Entraction online business in Europe because of market conditions.

While some analysts have questioned IGT’s agreement earlier in the year to pay as much as $500 million for the Double Down casino business on Facebook, IGT executives said today they expect Double Down to add to earnings by 2014.

Double Down has play-for-fun games like blackjack, slots, video poker and roulette. Customers can buy virtual chips for more action on the site.

Double Down now has 1.415 million daily users spending an average of 28 cents per day on the social, non-gambling site, the company said. The user count is up 4 percent, while average daily spending increased 3 cents from the third fiscal quarter.

For the year, the company’s adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations amounted to $1.04 and today, IGT projected that would grow to $1.20 to $1.30 in fiscal year 2013, which would amount to growth of 15 percent to 25 percent.

Tags: Business
Gaming

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