Gaming license for Texas slot maker OK’d

Some 18 months after Multimedia Games was put on the auction block, the small, Texas-based slot machine maker has a Nevada gaming license and plans to challenge some of the gaming industry's largest manufacturers.

"We're looking to take some market share from the big guys, and we're looking to compete," Multimedia Senior Vice President of Sales Mick Roemer told the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday after approval of the company's gaming license.

The company, based in Austin, Texas, has gained a strong presence in the American Indian gaming market and has 125 different gaming licenses.

It's Nevada license "almost doubles the available market for the company," CEO Patrick Ramsey told the commission.

Ramsey, who said Multimedia Games will open a sales office and showroom in Las Vegas, will need to get its slot machines approved by Nevada gaming regulators before the devices can land in Strip casinos.

"We compete side by side with the big companies in all the markets," said Multimedia Games Chairman Steve Greathouse, a former Strip gaming executive.

The company was put up for sale in March 2010 after former CEO Anthony Sanfilippo left to become CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment. Ramsey became acting CEO that month and took over the position permanently in September 2010.

The company made several cost-cutting moves, and its slot machines were approved for use in the major casino markets of Louisiana and Mississippi. Chief Financial Officer Adam Chibib told the commission the company would make a profit this year.

The company has several different game titles, including slot machines that offer two different games at once and a slot machine tournament system. Ramsey said those might be the first products introduced in Nevada.

In addition to Roemer, who worked for several of the major gaming equipment manufacturers, many Multimedia executives have ties to Las Vegas.

Greathouse was a CEO with Harrah's Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay, while Ramsey and general counsel Uri Clinton both worked for Harrah's (now Caesars) Entertainment.

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