Silicon investors selling out

      International Game Technology, the dominant slot machine manufacturer, notified the Securities and Exchange Commission Thursday that it intended to sell 107,000 shares of Silicon Gaming Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif.
      It was the latest in series of stock sales notices filed by some wealthy individuals and institutions that bought Silicon Gaming stock before it completed an initial public stock offering in July.
      In the wake of these announcements, Silicon Gaming shares have lost altitude since hitting a 52-week high of $23 on Nasdaq in January. It closed at $13 on Thursday for a 25-cent gain.
      IGT spokesman Rick Sorensen said the company has sold only 75,000 of the 107,000 shares it proposed to sell.
      The IGT disclosure, however, follows a report last week that Station Casinos Inc. intends to sell 267,000 shares of Silicon Gaming, the maker of the innovative Odyssey slot machine system.
      Technology Partners, a venture capital firm that provided seeding for Silicon Gaming in 1994, has distributed some of its shares to its limited partners too, said Thomas Carlson, Silicon Gaming's chief financial officer.
      Partners Growth Fund of New York has filed to sell 1,953 shares of Silicon Gaming, as well.
      Carlson stressed, however, that no officers or directors of Silicon Gaming have sold any shares in the company. He said only about a dozen of the company's 100 early investors have disclosed plans to sell stock in the company.
      These investors were given the opportunity to invest in Silicon Gaming before the company went public in July. However, "they don't get any information that isn't public information," Carlson said.
      Carlson said he wasn't aware of any plans to sell by high profile investors such as Glenn Schaeffer, chief financial officer of Circus Circus Enterprises Inc.; Arthur Goldberg, executive vice president of Hilton Hotels Corp.; and John Acres, chairman of Acres Gaming.
      IGT still holds an undisclosed number of shares in Silicon Gaming, said Rick Sorensen, a spokesman for IGT.
      "International Game Technology bought the Silicon stock as an investment, and the company made some profits on it, because that's what investors do," Sorensen said. "We don't know what we'll do with the rest of the Silicon stock that we have."
      Station Casinos said it wants to sell its shares in Silicon Gaming so the funds can be invested in Station Casinos' own business, according to Carlson.
      "They bought (Silicon Gaming) shares for $7.50," Carlson said. "I would think that an 80 percent gain in a year is pretty darn good."
      Gaming industry companies buy stock in companies like his to establish business relationships, Carlson said. Circus Circus, the Hard Rock Hotel, Monte Carlo and the Stardust are among the Strip casinos with Odyssey slot machines, he said.