LAS VEGAS, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Coast Casinos, Inc. has signed an agreement to purchase 100 percent of its gaming machines for its new Southcoast Resort, scheduled to open in late 2005, from IGT, an affiliated company of International Game Technology (NYSE:IGT) .


The new Southcoast casino will feature approximately 2,500 Game King(TM) video poker machines, S2000(TM) slots, Game King(TM) video slots, Reel Touch(TM) Slots and S2000 Bonus Reel(TM) Slots featuring IGT's vast library of popular game themes. Plans also call for a full selection of the latest IGT MegaJackpots(TM) games, such as the popular Wheel of Fortune(R) and Megabucks(R) slots.


"We are appreciative that Coast Resorts has made such a significant commitment to IGT and its products," said Ron Rivera, Vice President of Sales for IGT. "Our working relationship with the Coast properties and its CEO, Michael Gaughan, has been very solid and one based on mutual respect for each other. This order is certainly indicative of that."


Coast Casinos also owns The Suncoast, The Barbary Coast, The Gold Coast and The Orleans. The company currently operates more than 8,000 machines in Southern Nevada, not counting the machines in operation at McCarran Airport, which are operated through an affiliated Coast company, with an overall share of close to 80% IGT products.


Marcus Suan, Vice President of Slot Operations for Coast Casinos, said the company made the decision to go exclusively with IGT for a number of reasons including variety and popularity of slot and poker equipment and games, installation and service support, dependability and pricing value.


"IGT is the leader in the industry for a reason. They earned this order through their years of service and support of our casino floors," said Suan. "This is not only a good deal for our companies, but most importantly for our customers because I know IGT will deliver the very best products and the best support, which they have demonstrated throughout our years of dealing with them."


All of the machines to be installed at the new casino will be equipped with ticket printers to facilitate ticket-in ticket-out (TITO) payout functionality. Coast Resorts was the first casino operator to offer TITO on a major casino floor, when it opened the Suncoast Hotel and Casino with more than 2,300 machines in September of 2000. Since then, ticket systems and ticket-equipped machines have been installed at all of its other casinos.


"Coast Casinos has been an innovator in the market on many fronts," said Ed Rogich, Vice President of Marketing for IGT. "They were way out in front on the current move to tickets because they care about customer service and back it up by offering the best equipment and features. That's evident in everything they do, from the new arena at the Orleans, to the theatres, to the bowling facilities and especially in the casinos."


Company Information and Forward Looking Statements


IGT is a world leader in the design, development and manufacture of microprocessor-based gaming and lottery products and software systems in all jurisdictions where gaming and lotteries are legal. For more information on International Game Technology, visit the company's website at www.igt.com.


Statements in this release, which are not historical facts, are "forward looking" statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in any of its forward-looking statements are reasonable, actual results could differ materially from those projected or assumed. IGT's future financial condition and results of operations, as well as any of its forward-looking statements, are subject to change and to inherent known and unknown risks and uncertainties. IGT does not intend, and undertakes no obligation, to update our forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances. Information on risks and factors that could affect IGT's business and financial results are included in our public filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission.


Source: IGT

CONTACT: Ed Rogich, VP of Marketing, +1-702-896-8690, or Richard
Baldwin, Investor Relations, +1-866-296-4232, both for IGT


Web site: http://www.igt.com/