Las Vegas NowLocal Company Doing Well in Downturn

Local Company Doing Well in Downturn

Not all of the financial news from gaming companies is bad. One company based in Las Vegas not only made more money, it is expanding and hiring. The company is not a casino, but it supplies to casinos what brings the people in.

Bally Technologies make slot machines and now has about a quarter of the market. Their prosperity opened more than 100 new positions at the company.

From making slot machines to shipping them around the globe, Bally Technologies saw their income shoot up 46-percent in the last quarter.

In a time when some casino companies need help paying their bills, the game maker doubled its market share.

Kimberly Cohn is part of that success in the down economy, "We talk about game play design. We come up with the mathematics on how often the features will come up and what the play experience will be like."

This has been her job for the past six years. Her pride and joy this year allows two people to play together sitting next to each other on a long bench.

Bally Technologies CEO Richard Haddrill says the demand for slot machines outside of Nevada actually increased, "Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama -- it's growing. Places in the Midwest, like Indiana. The state of Washington is expanding."

There were also huge increases in sales to South America, "Our average selling price this quarter was actually a record. Our games are just playing better, bringing in more revenue for the casino."

That means Bally Technologies need more employees. Haddrill is adding 58 more positions at the headquarters in Las Vegas and an additional 50 spread across the country.

"We are pretty picky for our hiring. We make people do aptitude tests for engineering positions and interview on average seven or eight people for each position," he said.

The new people will be part of the next generation game being developed now.

Cohn believes her company's strength in this down time puts it in a great position, "The economy and the state of our industry is an interesting one. It has the most potential for growth."

She's hoping the good times will be just that.

Bally Technologies have slot machines in every casino in Las Vegas. The company has almost 400,000 machines operating right now around the world.