WMS – 3 rd Largest Slots Manufacturer in the World

Cash changes hands every single day in the slot machine rooms of Nevada hotel casinos. Last Friday, however, the world of slots saw the big money come out to play: an estimated $1.42 billion changed hands when shareholders of slots giant WMS, one of the biggest U.S. slot-machine manufacturers, agreed to the company’s sale to Scientific Games, a gaming-systems provider to the lottery industry.

Based in Waukegan, Illinois, but with offices close to the Las Vegas casino hotels that number among its top clients, WMS was founded in 1943 and initially focused on manufacturing pinball tables and, later, video-game consoles.

However, as the pinball market began to decline at the end of the ‘80s, the company moved into the industry of manufacturing gaming machines for casinos and casino hotels. In 1994, WMS launched its first slot machines. Since then, it’s created some of the world’s most famous one-armed bandit titles, including Reel ‘em In!®, Life of Luxury®, Zeus™ and Jackpot Party®. WMS has also been responsible for licensed titles as varied as MONOPOLY™, THE WIZARD OF OZ™, THE LORD OF THE RINGS™, CLUE™ and THE PRICE IS RIGHT™.

By the time Scientific Games announced its plans to acquire WMS and all its subsidiaries in January 2013, WMS had become the third largest slots manufacturer in the world. Of WMS’ competitors, only International Game Technology and Bally Technologies are bigger players when it comes to building one-armed bandits.

After Scientific Games tabled its offer in January, Deutsche Bank gaming analysts said that the deal, turning WMS into a wholly-owned subsidiary, made “considerable sense” for the slots manufacturer. Obviously, Wall Street wasn’t the only one impressed with the idea of acquisition: WMS shareholder approval on Friday was almost unanimous, with 99% voting to green-light the deal at a price of $26 per WMS share.

The WMS-Scientific Games merger is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year. In the meantime, slot lovers will be waiting with baited breath to see what exciting new titles are created by the companies’ union. WMS’ recent titles, including the Blade™ and Gamefield xD™ gaming machines, have been very popular with players in Nevada hotel casinos and beyond. With the weight of Scientific Games behind them, WMS look set to provide slot fans with even more innovative games!

Additional reporting provided by Las Vegas Review-Journal.