Slot manufacturer plans Las Vegas headquarters

Friday, Aug. 25, 2000 | 11:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Aristocrat Leisure Limited, a slot machine manufacturer that operates in 29 counties, will place its U.S. headquarters in Las Vegas as it starts its effort to capture a big share of the market in the United States.

Desmond H. Randall, chief executive officer of the Australian corporation, said it has only 3 to 4 percent of the business in this country but has a goal to increase its U.S. market share to 30 percent by the year 2003.

Aristocrat is the second-largest slot machine maker in the world. It trails only Reno-based International Game Technology.

Aristocrat received a gaming license Thursday from the Nevada Gaming Commission on a 4-1 vote. With the approval, the company plans to set up offices at the McCarran Center in Las Vegas with about 100 people. It will also start a research and development center at the University of Arizona in Tucson with about 50 people.

The company had offices in Reno and a plant in Truckee, Calif., which will be closing. Commissioner Sue Wagner told Randall that some of the employees were unhappy about moving to Las Vegas. Randall replied that it was difficult to recruit in the Reno market.

"Las Vegas is the center of gaming," Randall said.

The company had sought Nevada licenses in 1986 and 1993 but faced objections from state regulators about Leonard Ainsworth, the firm's founder and one-time majority shareholder. Both times the application was withdrawn when it ran into questions about kickbacks and secret payments to consultants which involved Ainsworth.

Las Vegas attorney Frank Schreck, who represented Aristocrat before the commission said Ainsworth has been removed from the company and his family members, who own stock, have no voting rights.

Wagner said the company has "done a good job of eradicating the Ainsworth family." And she added that the compliance system set up to make sure there are no violations should be used.

"The company has evolved to a point where it is suitable for licensing in Nevada," said commission Chairman Brian Sandoval.

Commissioner Augie Gurrola was the lone dissenting vote. He said he could not support the application as long as employee Len Woods and David Creary were on the payroll. But company officials said the two men had not done anything wrong to warrant their dismissal.

Randall told Gurrola, "If we find these people guilty of a misdemeanor or regulation, we would take them out." The state Gaming Control Board, whose staff conducted the investigation, had unanimously voted earlier this month to support the application.

The company will concentrate on producing video reel, multi-line, multi-play machines. At this point, Randall said it had no intent to begin producing themed slot machines, which are becoming the rage among competing slot makers.

"If the game is right, people come back to play the game," he said.