Business & Finance

First WMS Gaming Video Slot Machines Installed in Australia

BusinessWire - June 15th, 2001

American firm WMS Gaming Inc., a subsidiary of WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE:WMS), announced today the first installations of its Jackpot Party® multi-line, multi-coin video slot machines have begun in clubs and casinos in New South Wales, Australia. The installations mark the premier of WMS Gaming products in the largest gaming market outside of the United States and highlight the realization of the company's plan to place games in Australia on the Stargames Ltd., (ASX:SGS), PC3 hardware platform. The Australian gaming device market is completely video and totals nearly 200,000 machines.

In 2000, WMS announced that it entered into an exclusive agreement with Stargames, whereby Stargames will manufacture and sell WMS Gaming's multi-line, multi-coin video games in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. WMS Gaming will act as Stargames' sales representative for a select number of key accounts in Australia while Stargames will sell to other clubs, hotels and casinos in all three countries.

"Our goal in Australia is to establish a strong footprint of our popular video slot machine titles and garner significant marketshare while enhancing our reputation as a leading international supplier of popular slot machines," said Brian R. Gamache, President and Chief Executive Officer of WMS Industries Inc. "These initial installations mark the successful culmination of months of product development, regulatory submissions and sales efforts. On my recent visit to Australia, I witnessed first hand the high level of excitement that the casino and club operators had for the prospects of being able to offer their customers our popular WMS titles. This, coupled with the very favorable reception by Australian players in our market research trials, bodes well for the success of our games in the market and should help us realize our goal of generating approximately one third of our overall base game sales from international markets over the next three to five years."

Due to the complexity of the licensing and approval process in this country for the PC3 platform, Jackpot Party® ultimately received approval later than anticipated. WMS has also submitted other games, including the first version of its MONOPOLY® themed games, to the New South Wales Testing Authority for recommendation for approval. The company anticipates timely receipt of approvals for these new games.

MONOPOLY® is a trademark of Hasbro Inc. ©2001 Hasbro, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.