LAS VEGAS, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) will use technology provided by Alliance Gaming Corp. (NYSE:AGI) to introduce ticket-out, ticket-in coinless gaming at its casinos across the country.

Under an agreement with Alliance, Harrah's will use the Bally eTICKET(TM) and ePRINTER(TM) solutions in deploying "Fast Cash(TM)," a coinless gaming environment, at Harrah's properties. The agreement also includes the continued implementation of the Bally eCOUPON(TM) system to support Harrah's "Reel Rewards(TM)" "Express Play(TM)" coupons promotional program. All three products are produced by Alliance's Bally Gaming and Systems business unit.

"Our business engine is driven by building strong relationships with customers fueled by great customer service," said John Boushy, Harrah's Senior Vice President, Operations, Products & Services and Information Technology. "These coinless systems will give us the capability to take our customer service to an even higher level. By eliminating wait times for change and hopper fills, coinless gaming will offer our customers unprecedented convenience. Bally's systems will also enhance our world-class customer relationship management systems by extending these systems' capabilities directly into our slot machines."

The two companies are implementing ticket-out/ticket-in coinless systems at Harrah's owned and operated properties once local regulatory approvals are received. Harrah's expects to have a combination of eTICKET and/or eCOUPON installed at most if not all of its properties by the end of 2003, pending regulatory approval. Individual slots at each casino will be outfitted for coinless capability as warranted by customer and business value.

"This agreement with Harrah's will allow us to deploy coinless initiatives in greater numbers and at a much faster rate than under normal market conditions," said Robert Miodunski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Alliance Gaming. "Our system-centric solution allows our customers to deploy coinless technology on a much more rapid basis without the normal capital constraints."

The advantage to using the eTICKET and ePRINTER products, Boushy said, is their compatibility with slot machines from all manufacturers, which will allow Harrah's to install coinless technology in older, "legacy" slot machines. Machine-centric coinless solutions typically require operators to replace older slot machines, making the introduction of coinless technology time-consuming and more expensive.

"If you replace a popular slot machine with a new machine solely for the purpose of coinless gaming, only the slot machine manufacturer benefits," Boushy said. "Bally's approach lets us keep existing slot machines that are still very popular with our customers. Long-term, this approach is consistent with our vision of a slot floor enabled more and more by tightly integrated, secure, system-driven technologies."

In the future, ePRINTER will be integrated into systems that allow Harrah's to recognize slot players and extend them promotional offers in real- time.

Fast Cash, Harrah's coinless gaming system, is currently installed on existing slots at three Harrah's properties with excellent results. Current plans call for Fast Cash to be introduced at two additional Harrah's properties by the end of June, resulting in more than 3,000 coinless slot machines in four jurisdictions.

Reel Rewards, Harrah's promotional program powered in part by Bally eCOUPON, gives customers the ability to redeem promotional offers by simply inserting a coupon in a slot's bill validator. Reel Rewards is now installed on nearly 5,000 Harrah's slot machines at seven properties in four jurisdictions.

"Our coinless gaming plans are ambitious, and based on significant customer research and initial customer feedback, we're confident that our customers will embrace these new services and products," Boushy said.


About Alliance Gaming Corp.

Recognized as the industry leader with approximately 217,000 game monitoring units and 187 casino customers worldwide, the Bally Systems product line offers slot machine cash monitoring, accounting, security, maintenance, marketing, promotional and bonusing capabilities, enabling operators to accurately analyze performance and accountability while providing an enhanced level of customer service.

Alliance Gaming is a diversified gaming company with headquarters in Las Vegas. The Company is engaged in the design, manufacture, operation and distribution of advanced gaming devices and systems worldwide, and is the nation's largest gaming machine route operator and operates two casinos. Additional information about the Company can be found at www.alliancegaming.com .


About Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.

Founded 65 years ago, Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. operates 26 casinos in the United States, primarily under the Harrah's brand name. Harrah's Entertainment is focused on building loyalty and value with its target customers through a unique combination of great service, excellent products, unsurpassed distribution, operational excellence and technology leadership. Additional information about Harrah's Entertainment is available at www.harrahs.com .

This release includes "forward-looking statements" intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements contains words such as "may," "will," "project," "might," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "intend," "could," "would," "estimate," "continue" or "pursue," or the negative or other variations thereof or comparable terminology. In particular, they include statements relating to, among other things, future actions, new projects, strategies, future performance, the outcome of contingencies such as legal proceedings and future financial results. We have based these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events.

We caution the reader that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that cannot be predicted or quantified and, consequently, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward- looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following factors as well as other factors described from time to time in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission:


* the effect of economic, credit and capital market conditions on the economy in general, and on gaming and hotel companies in particular;
* construction factors, including delays, zoning issues, environmental restrictions, soil and water conditions, weather and other hazards, site access matters and building permit issues;
* our ability to timely and cost effectively integrate into our operations the companies that we acquire;
* access to available and feasible financing;
* changes in laws (including increased tax rates), regulations or accounting standards, third-party relations and approvals, and decisions of courts, regulators and governmental bodies;
* litigation outcomes and judicial actions, including gaming legislative action, referenda and taxation;
* ability of our customer-tracking and yield-management programs to continue to increase customer loyalty;
* our ability to recoup costs of capital investments through higher revenues;
* acts of war or terrorist incidents;
* abnormal gaming holds, and
* the effects of competition, including locations of competitors and
operating and market competition.

Any forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and, as such, speak only as of the date made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.