Merger will form Las Vegas-based company for IGT. What it means for RI offices
International Game Technology will get a new name but keep its Providence offices and its exclusive contract with the Rhode Island Lottery when the gambling company spins off parts of its business in a $6.2 billion merger.
The merger announced last week sees IGT combine its casino gaming, digital gaming and financial technology businesses with Everi Holdings Inc. to create a new Las Vegas-based company that will, confusingly, take the IGT name.
The old company, officially headquartered in the United Kingdom, will continue IGT's traditional lottery business, the focus of most of the company's Rhode Island-based workforce.
"Rhode Island will continue as the operational headquarters of the lottery business albeit under a new name that has yet to be determined," Robert Vincent, chairman of IGT Global Solutions Corporation, wrote in an email about the deal.
"Obviously, these are early days and a great deal of work is underway planning for the transition and merger," he said. "We don’t envision any significant impact to the RI operations that are primarily focused on the lottery business. There will likely be some transfer of staff between the two new entities as roles are sorted out. An assessment and planning process for that is underway."
The merger comes nearly three years after Rhode Island agreed to a new 20-year extension of IGT's lottery contract. To help pave the way for the deal, IGT joined forces with former rival Bally's in an arrangement that allows Bally's to control 23% of the slot machines at its Rhode Island casinos. The merger will see IGT spin off its slot machine business to the new company that is merging with Everi.
In exchange for the 20-year contract extension, IGT agreed to keep 1,100 employees in Rhode Island and invest $155 million in lottery technology upgrades.
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That jobs guarantee, first proposed before the COVID pandemic, might be more valuable now that many companies are embracing remote work and many Providence office buildings are partially empty.
Some Rhode Islanders still think of IGT as GTECH, the former name before a series of mergers created the current company.
The new name, whatever it turns out to be, will go into effect when the merger closes, which is expected at the end of this year or early next year.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: IGT to maintain Providence offices after merger, new name expected
