IGT talk amounts to Street nothings

A filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in August gave Wall Street the impression that International Game Technology had acquired 22.5 percent of casino technology provider Progressive Gaming International.

Not so, said Progressive Gaming Chief Financial Officer Heather Rollo.

Progressive Gaming and IGT expanded the companies' strategic alliance for server-based gaming. As part of the agreement, IGT purchased a $15 million convertible note with Progressive Gaming. An option exists to covert the note into ownership.

Certain gaming approvals would be necessary. In Nevada, regulators need to approve an ownership stake above 9.9 percent.

"The note is basically convertible, but there are restrictions," Rollo said.

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Aria, the 61-story centerpiece of the $9.2 billion CityCenter, tops out Monday, 29 months after construction began. The two curvilinear glass towers, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli, will hold 4,000 hotel rooms.

Aria's 150,000-square-foot casino is the only gaming at CityCenter, which includes three nongaming hotels with condominiums, a condominium-only high-rise, and a retail, dining and entertainment district.

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Topless Girls of Glitter Gulch tried to become the first true strip club licensed for slot machines. But the Fremont Street bar shelved its request when it became clear the Gaming Control Board was going to reject the application.

Grandfathering laws allow six Las Vegas topless clubs to offer slot machines, giving gamblers a choice besides G-strings for their dollars.

The sites had been taverns or restaurants. The restricted gaming licenses for 15 slot machines remained when they became topless bars.

Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said a regulation preventing that practice is being evaluated.

The six strip clubs with slot machines are Olympic Garden, Club Platinum, Foxy Girls, Tommy Rockers, Play it Again Sam and Larry's Villa.

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Station Casinos spokeswoman Lori Nelson said the company's "No Juice" sports wagering promotion and the start of the O.J. Simpson trial were just coincidence.

Right.

Gamblers didn't have to pay the extra 10 percent vigorish, or juice, on all professional and college football wagers Thursday at any of the company's casinos.

Simpson, a former star football running back whose nickname was "The Juice," is on trial in Clark County District Court on armed robbery and kidnapping charges stemming from an incident involving sports memorabilia inside a Station Casino's Palace Station hotel room.

Howard Stutz's Inside Gaming column appears Sundays. E-mail him at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or call 702-477-3871.