LV firm makes Forbes list

Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2001 | 9:23 a.m.

Shuffle Master Inc. of Las Vegas was named one of Forbes magazine's 200 "Best Small Companies in America," making it the only Las Vegas company to be named to the list.

Shuffle Master was ranked No. 32 on the list, up from No. 33 last year. This is Shuffle Master's third year on the list.

Ranking on the list is determined by a company's performance in return on equity, sales growth and earnings per share growth. Over the past five years, Shuffle Master has average annual return on equity of 24 percent, sales growth of 13 percent and earnings per share growth of 33 percent.

Shuffle Master is a manufacturer of gaming equipment. Its product line includes slot machines, card shufflers, proprietary table games and gaming machine software.

Two companies with Las Vegas ties were also named to the list: MTR Gaming Group of Chester, W.Va.; and Speedway Motorsports of Concord, N.C.

MTR owns the Speedway Casino in North Las Vegas. It ranked No. 7 on this year's list, its first appearance. Its five-year averages were 31 percent return on equity, 43 percent annual sales growth and 54 percent earnings-per-share growth.

Speedway Motorsports came in at No. 175, and also made its first appearance on the list. Its five-year averages were 14 percent return on equity, 33 percent sales growth and 15 percent earnings-per-share growth. Speedway owns the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.