Shuffle Master sees key shifts in management

David Strow

Thursday, Jan. 24, 2002 | 11:12 a.m.

A Las Vegas gaming supply company announced a big shift in its upper management Wednesday, as the company's chairman and a member of its board of directors tendered their resignations.

Shuffle Master Inc. announced Chairman Joseph Lahti would resign on Feb. 2, but would continue to serve as a consultant to the company "for an extended period of time." Lahti will be succeeded as chairman by Chief Executive Mark Yoseloff, who will continue to serve as CEO. The move came seven months after Lahti relinquished the CEO position to Yoseloff.

The company also announced Patrick Cruzen, a Minneapolis-based gaming industry consultant and former president of Grand Casinos Inc., will not stand for re-election after more than four years with the company. Cruzen's term will end in March, and there are no immediate plans to replace him on the board.

Finally, Shuffle Master promoted its executive vice president, Mark Lipparelli, to the position of president, replacing Yoseloff in that role. Lipparelli joined Shuffle Master last April, with the primary job of spearheading the introduction of new slot machines into the market.

"I don't believe it's unexpected," Yoseloff said. "It's been expected Joe would be retiring from the company, and that I would succeed him as chairman. This is really the (culmination) of move that have been planned and thought out for a period of time by senior management and the board of directors."

Yoseloff added the moves were "extremely cordial in every regard.

"There should be no implication that this was anything other than a mutual decision by the board, Joe and me."

When Shuffle Master moved from Minneapolis to Las Vegas three years ago, Lahti stayed in Minnesota and had been splitting time between the two cities. So Lahti's departure did not surprise Dave Ehlers, chairman of Las Vegas Investment Advisors.

"Joe Lahti was a part-time chairman, a part-time CEO when he lived in Minnesota," Ehlers said. "This (shift) has been going on for a long time."

The only surprise, Ehlers said, was that Lahti would not be staying on as chairman in a non-executive role.

"(Yoseloff) was running the show, but that (Lahti's decision not to stay on as chairman in a non-executive role) is still a little surprising," Ehlers said. "But I don't read much of a fight into this thing."

Said Yoseloff, "Joe's interests and family are in Minnesota. Two, Joe also feels very comfortable in the role of growing a company to a certain size. So we may have reached that size, and he felt he wanted someone else to carry on from this point."

Shuffle Master has historically been known as a provider of card shufflers to casinos, as well as the producer of the popular "Let It Ride" table games. In recent years, however, the company has focused more efforts on the production of slot machines. Current slot titles produced by the company include "The Three Stooges," "Let's Make A Deal" and "Press Your Luck." The company has also licensed the rights to produce slots based on "The Honeymooners" and Budweiser, the flagship beer brand of Anheuser-Busch Inc.

In the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, Shuffle Master posted net income of $11.6 million, a 36 percent increase over the year-ago period. Revenues rose 23 percent to $48 million, while cash flow increased 27 percent to $22.8 million.