IGT interested in acquiring British firm for technology

TJ Matthews is no stranger to the notion of acquiring companies so that his International Game Technology can get its hands on attractive technology.

After all, Matthews, the company's chief executive officer and chairman, came to IGT when the Reno-based manufacturer of slot machines acquired his Anchor Gaming in 2001 a deal that was driven largely by Anchor's ownership of a key patent for cash-free slot machine systems.

Last week, IGT said it's in preliminary discussions to acquire Cyberview Technology Inc., a British company that's developing server-based gaming systems.

While a deal is far from done, the price tag probably would be about $70 million, IGT executives said.

Matthews has made no secret of his belief that server-based gaming will be the next big thing in the casino industry, providing the same sort of spur to IGT's business that ticket-in, ticket-out systems provided earlier this decade.

With server-based systems, casino operators will control their casino floor maybe even casino floors across several properties from a central location.

That would allow them to remotely update game offerings or handle maintenance from a central location.

Cyberview Technology, headquartered in London, has been working on server-based systems for a decade. While most of its business has been in the United Kingdom, it began a big push last year to win approval of state gaming regulators in Nevada and elsewhere in the United States.

In the first half of 2007, the last period for which financials are publicly available, Cyberview reported after-tax income equivalent to about $1.1 million. The company employed 132 at mid-year 2007.

IGT representatives said last week the Reno company won't make any comment about the negotiations with Cyberview until a deal is completed or talks fall apart.