An Overview of IGT and their Role in the Slot Machine Industry
International Gaming Technology is a monster of the gambling machine industry. Of course, IGT made its name in the video poker business. IGT has sold more video poker machines than all other competitors combined.
What many people might not understand is that International Gaming Technology is one of the giants of the slot machine industry, too. IGT slot machines have long been an innovator in the industry, and are found in every casino across America.
Games like "Red, White and Blue", "Double Diamond" and "The Wheel of Fortune" are IGT games you're certainly familiar with.
Some IGT History
IGT got into the slot machine business in 1981, just as the slots industry was evolving. Slot machines at the time were still older generation in nature. Mechanical levers were a mainstay, as well as the mechanical reels which held back innovations.
But in the eighties, the technology reached a point where random number generators began to take over the industry. The possibilities became virtually unlimited with the invention of the RNG, and IGT was on the cutting edge of the technological revolution.
Mechanical Slots Give Way to Computerized Slots
The old mechanical reels could only contain about 20 symbols per reel. They also limited a slot machine to only three reels, because otherwise the slot machine would have been humongous and unwieldy.
The random number generator ended size concerns, as the same operations could be performed by an inboard computer.
The popular 5 reel craze followed, and with it the development of the progressive jackpot. Five reel slots raised the probabilities of hitting a jackpot, which meant the jackpot payoffs could inflate into the millions of dollars.
IGT's Role and Progressive Jackpots
International Game Technology was there to oversee this revolution. The progressive jackpots many IGT slot machines offer are only part of this company's success story, but there is a reason IGT and progressive jackpot are synonymous.
International Gaming Technology started the progressive jackpots craze in 1986, when IGT introduced the first progressive jackpot network slot machine: Megabucks. The Megabucks jackpot idea proved a huge success. Soon, IGT and its competitors were manufacturing numerous progressive jackpot slot machines, which would become the industry standard in the nineties.
IGT's Changing Role
IGT started out by simply improving classic slots machines. But International Game Technologies was also an innovator in the marketing of its slots games. IGT began to obtain licensing for popular television shows of the past and present, and the rest was history.
IGT's The Wheel of Fortune slots game is the most popular slot machine in the history of gaming, and comes in a half-dozen different varieties. The Wheel of Fortune was an indication of how a brand name could draw players to a slot machine, and IGT would soon have a bevy of television show themed slot machines in its repertoire.
Jeopardy, The Price Is Right and Family Feud followed The Wheel of Fortune model, drawing gamblers to gameshow-themed slot machines. But IGT started licensing classic television shows, which opened up a whole new world of possibilities. Shows such as I Love Lucy, I Dream of Jeannie, the Addams Family and The Beverly Hillbillies followed. Another draw of these games was the voice talents hired. Barbara Eden and John Astin would soon be reprising their roles from classic television shows of the sixties.
IGT Today
International Gaming Technology is now a billion dollar a year business. Its progressive jackpot network touches practically every casino in America.
But IGT isn't a company to rest on its laurels. The company realizes the industry will continue to change through technological innovation, so IGT slot machines will be on the cutting edge of new trends in the slots industry.
Also of Interest
The Cleopatra Slot Machine from IGT
$1 Million Pyramid Slot Machine
Bally Technologies - Bally Slot Machines
