Bally COO transforms slot maker’s systems operation into thriving business

Ramesh Srinivasan said there are similarities in developing management systems for dissimilar businesses: Whether a clothing manufacturer, a toy company or one of gaming's major slot machine manufacturers, all use technology.

Srinivasan has experience in all three markets.

"The industries might be different, but systems technology all has the same goal of making business more efficient," said Srinivasan, who took over as president and chief operating officer of slot machine developer Bally Technologies in March.

Analysts credit Srinivasan, 51, a native of Chennai, India, with turning around Bally's systems division, which develops management technologies for overall casino use and the slot machine floor. He joined Las Vegas-based Bally in 2005 and transformed the struggling systems operation into one of gaming's most respected business units.

Now, Srinivasan oversees the Las Vegas-based company's games division, too. And, similar to developing business systems for different industries, he sees a common overlap.

"Systems is more organized and repetitive while games is an incredibly creative process," Srinivasan said. "By nature they are two different businesses, but technology is bringing them closer together. They need separate focuses, but taking away from that, we need to maximize all synergies that are possible."

Wall Street continues to laud Bally's financial performance. Depending upon who is compiling the ranking, the company is either the No. 2 or No. 3 slot machine maker in terms of market share, flopping spots with rival WMS Industries. The companies still trail top-ranked and Reno-based International Game Technology.

Srinivasan, who moved up the corporate ladder when former COO Gavin Isaacs left to become chief executive officer of Shuffle Master Inc., is given some of the credit for the company's success.

In April, Bally said its net income and revenues increased in the third quarter, despite the continued two-year-long slump in the sales of new slot machines industrywide. Systems revenue grew 2 percent in the third quarter over the second quarter.

"Ramesh came in and turned a non-core systems business that was losing customers into a thriving business that is now a strategic advantage," Roth Capital Partners gaming analyst Todd Eilers said. "This becomes even more important over time as the industry becomes more focused on software and systems and both become more connected."

Union Gaming Group analyst Bill Lerner agreed the growing convergence of games with systems technology gives Srinivasan an advantage in his new role.

"Ramesh has been a tremendous force behind systems development and strategy at Bally, and for that matter that application of systems across the entire slot machine industry," Lerner said. "Ramesh will invariably bring the same passion that underscored his success in systems to the game side."

The casino industry was the furthest business from Srinivasan's mind when he came to the U.S. after earning a degree in metallurgical engineering and working for several companies in India.

In the U.S., he first oversaw management information systems for clothing maker Bugle Boy Industries, then was a systems analyst for Mattel Toys before joining Manhattan Associates, a supply chain software company headed by Richard Haddrill.

A year after Haddrill became Bally's CEO, Srinivasan moved to Las Vegas to join his former boss.

"I see myself as a business systems professional who happens to be in gaming," Srinivasan said. "I'm not a hard-core gaming guy. I'm a technology professional and gaming happens to be my business."

That attitude and a broad experience prompts Srinivasan to look outside the traditional gaming industry for new ideas.

"Getting new people to ask different questions often leads to better solutions," he said.

Despite the slowness in traditional slot machine sales in recent years, Bally has found other revenue streams. Earlier this month, the company cut a new deal with Italy's video lottery program and will provide more than 5,000 gaming devices and systems to the top concessionaire.

Despite his new role, Srinivasan remains an engineer at heart. He said Bally continued to invest in research and development initiatives over the past few years to be ready when slot machine and gaming equipment sales pick up.

"R&D is oxygen for us engineers," he said. "I don't see that oxygen ever being reduced."

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.