| Multimedia Games, Inc.
HOST: Mr. Clifton Lind
DATE: July 30, 2003
OPERATOR: Good day and welcome, everyone, to
the Multimedia Games Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2003 Conference
Call and Webcast. This call is being recorded, and will be available
for replay by dialing 888-203-1112 (U.S.) or 719 457 0820 (international)
and entering the pass code of 565944. With us today from the Company
is the President and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Clifton E. Lind,
the Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Craig S. Nouis, and Director of
Investor Relations, Miss Julia Spencer. Once today’s presentations
are complete, we will conduct a question and answer session. At
this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Clifton Lind.
Please go ahead, sir.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thank you, operator. Welcome to Multimedia Games’ Fiscal
2003, Third Quarter conference call. On the call with me today
is Craig Nouis, our CFO. Before we get to the heart of the call,
Julia Spencer, our Manager of Investor Relations, will present
a few cautionary comments. JULIA SPENCER:
Thank you, Clifton. I need to remind everyone that today’s
call and simultaneous webcast may include forward-looking statements
within the meaning of applicable securities law. These statements
represent our judgment concerning the future, and are subject to
risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual operating results
and financial conditions to differ materially from those expected.
Please refer to the “Risk Factors” section of our most
recent SEC filings. Today’s call and webcast may include
non-GAAP financial measures within the meaning of SEC Regulation
G. A reconciliation of all non-GAAP financial measures to the most
directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented
in accordance with GAAP can be found on our website, www.multimediagames.com,
in the Investor Relations section. I will now turn the call back
to Clifton.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thank you, Julia. Today, Multimedia Games reported a record third
quarter, in line with the guidance that we had provided on April
29th. As outlined in this morning’s press release, we achieved
these results by overcoming disappointed earnings in our largest
Class II market, and by generating record revenue in our Class
III market. While highlighting our success and diversifying our
sources of revenue, the revenue mix was likely different than you
may have expected. On the call, I’ll address the concerns
you may have regarding what we believe is only a short-term downturn
in the revenue from our core Class II market, and explain the reasons
why we believe that MGAM has significant near-term and long-term
upside. As indicated in this morning’s release, we’re
moving our full year’s guidance to $2.10 to $2.15, which
is approximately 22% ahead of last year’s results, and will
put Q4 ‘03 diluted EPS about in line with what we did last
year. Based on several recent developments that are strengthening
our Class II operations, adding to our emergence as a more important
Class III supplier, and the development of innovative new systems
for both of these markets and new markets, we are upbeat about
our prospects for next year.
On today’s call, we’ll address the following:
- The quarterly financial results, our expectations for the fourth
quarter and the full year, and our strengthening balance sheet;
- We’ll provide data on the installed base of New Generation
Class II Player Stations and hold per day;
- We’ll provide an update on the National Indian Gaming Commission’s
review of Reel Time Bingo™;
- We’ll review our Class II and Class III deliveries and
expectations;
- We’ll give an update on WinStar and other development projects;
and,
- We’ll discuss the status of the Video Lottery Central System
contract for New York State, and the current expectations for MGAM’s
role in this exciting racino market.
As I believe we have a number of investors relatively new to the
MGAM story on the call with us today, my comments will be fairly
detailed, but we’ll also have plenty of time for your questions.
Before I turn the call over to Craig for detailed commentary on
the quarterly financial results, I want to provide an update on
the NIGC’s review of Reel Time Bingo, Multimedia’s
New Generation standard-sequence bingo game.
The NIGC’s review is a matter of great focus for Wall
Street, and we certainly understand everyone’s interest
in the process. I would like to start by saying that we are in
substantial agreement
with the NIGC, and that we believe will receive a Class II letter.
I will point out, however, that under some scenarios, the Class
II letter on Reel Time Bingo may be just a documentation of one
game at a single point in time. We are continually developing new
products for our core Class II market, and we believe that even
with the Class II designation, Reel Time Bingo 2.0 will soon be
only one of several New Generation game engines offered by MGAM.
Reel Time Bingo has now been in the field for nearly a year, and
could quickly be superceded by one or more of the premium products
planned for introduction in the last calendar quarter of this year.
Likewise, there are scenarios under which we could receive a Class
II letter on the newer version of Reel Time Bingo, yet some of
our tribal customers may direct us to continue to run Reel Time
Bingo 1.2. We could spend hours on this call reviewing all of the
possible outcomes. Everyone at MGAM involved in this process takes
it quite seriously, and we have invested literally hundreds, if
not thousands of hours in making sure that our tribal customers,
their players and our shareholders’ interests are considered
as we work with the NIGC. There’s been widespread, almost
daily speculation above and beyond what I will review now. Some
is pure speculation; some carries in it elements of reality. Once
there is a development that indicates the NIGC’s final ruling,
we will get the news out right away. In the meantime, I will provide
a bit more perspective on the process over the last quarter.
During the quarter, we announced that we had removed the deadline
period under which the NIGC was to provide an opinion letter regarding
the game. At this juncture, we have submitted the gaming lab report
from two different labs for two different versions of the Reel
Time Bingo gaming engine. We are in what I would loosely classify
as “final discussions and negotiations” with the NIGC
about some additional changes they’ve recently requested,
which I would classify as being “technically feasible,” but
not ones that we are anxious to make. In our opinion, the requested
changes don’t appear to be required by laws, regulations,
or the findings of the courts, so we prefer not to make them. In
other words, these changes appear to be preferences, and therefore
should not be germane to the determination of whether or not Reel
Time Bingo is a Class II game. We believe that our game submission,
with the changes we’ve previously agreed to, clearly satisfies
the spirit of Class II gaming, and perhaps more importantly, meets
the strong legal precedent which has been established on this topic.
As you know, the Reel Time Bingo engine has widespread support
from numerous tribes, as have the earlier blue chip ground-breaking
products introduced over a long history of serving the Class II
market. Past and current product introductions are based on our
knowledge of the statutes, definitions, rules, regulations, and
case law governing the market. We believe that pursuant to the
settlement agreement with NIGC, and shortly after issuing the Class
II letter for Reel Time Bingo, authorities will notify all Class
II tribes of [the NIGC’s] position on pre-drawn bonanza-bingo
style games. Provided such notification is issued, we believe that
some tribes will choose to remove some or all of their “non-Class
II” games and their first and second-generation electronic
bonanza bingo games. These actions would represent a significant
Class II market opportunity for Multimedia in the months following
the receipt of a Class II letter.
In recent public forms, representatives of the NIGC have made comments
that might indicate a more constructive approach will be forthcoming
in the future. Specifically, NIGC spokespersons have indicated
recognition of the Congressional intent that Class II gaming by
sovereign Indian nations is not only desirable, but also that the
tribes should be given the latitude to engage in Class II gaming
within the statutory framework, in order to promote tribal self-sufficiency
through revenue generated from this type of gaming. In a recent
ruling in a case involving Class II gaming, the 10th Circuit cited
the Blackfeet canon, which requires that any ambiguity should be
viewed in the light most favorable to the tribes.
As I indicated at the beginning of my comments on this subject,
the letter, while important, may prove to be less significant in
its application. MGAM’s tribal customers are well aware of
the Blackfeet canon, and dozens of gaming commissioners have ruled
that Reel Time Bingo 1.2, the version now on the field, is a Class
II game. If the version NIGC ultimately approves is radically different
from the version currently in the field, the tribes may be reluctant
to discontinue the current game, or may be unwilling to deploy
the new game with the changes that are made if they don’t
believe these changes are required by statutes, rules, regulations
or case law.
Let me finish my remarks on the subject by saying
that I believe that NIGC and Multimedia remain optimistic that
we can mutually
agree on changes in Reel Time Bingo, and the Company remains hopeful
that a game classification letter will be forthcoming in the immediate
future. We’ve had a very good and constructive dialogue as
a result of this process, and this was our intent upon entering
into the initial agreement in March. We know it’s taken longer
than we had wished, but to some degree, we are blazing a new path
here. We sincerely appreciate the frank and open dialogue that
we have had with the legal staff of the NIGC, and we will continue
working with the NIGC in any reasonable manner to secure a Class
II classification. As I have said before, NIGC’s chairman,
commissioners, and professional staff are good, talented, knowledgeable
people trying to do a difficult job with scarce resources. In the
end I believe this process will have been good for the tribes and
therefore will have been good for the industry.
In a related development, we had delayed the release of the
Gen4 next-generation gaming system in our Class II markets in
order
to time the release to coincide with the release of Reel Time
Bingo 2.0. However, next Monday, August 4, we will begin releasing
a
version of Gen4 which is reverse compatible with Reel Time Bingo
1.2, as I said before, the version currently playing in the field.
This will enable us to release games having features that will
boost the earnings potential of the installed base of player
stations. This will allow us to go ahead and for the first time
ever offer
players of our Class II games the ability to experience the excitement
of complex bonus rounds and wide-area progressives. We will release
the complex bonus round games and wide-area progressive games
as soon as we get a critical mass of the Class II halls converted
to Gen4, which we expect to accomplish by late August. This will
be one component in our effort to drive up Class II gaming revenue
while we finish our NIGC discussions regarding which version
of
Reel Time Bingo 2.0 we offer, and is another example of our ability
to get our technology team to adapt to a rapidly changing, regulated
industry.
The last thought I want to leave you with before turning the
call over to Craig for his financial review, is that we feel
we have
our finger on the pulse of Class II gaming like no other company.
We will continue to leverage our industry-leading technology
in game development expertise in order to offer the highest-earning
and most enjoyable and exciting content options for the Class
II
market for any given economic and regulatory environment. We
have proven time and time again that we know how to navigate
the unique
technological and regulatory demands of this market. And we
believe our tribal customers will continue to turn to us to help
them
optimize their long-term revenue strengths. This is an intangible
yet very
valuable asset, which positions us to continue to be a leader
in the Class II market. I am confident that our proven ability
will
serve us well now and in the future. Now I would like to turn
the call over to Craig for his review of the financials.
CRAIG NOUIS:
Thanks, Clifton. Earlier today, we reported diluted earnings per
share of $0.60 for our third fiscal quarter, compared to $0.47
in the third quarter of last fiscal year, and $0.56 for our second
fiscal quarter of this year. Third quarter EBITDA, net earnings,
net income and earnings per share were all in line with the guidance
that we provided on April 29. Third quarter results benefited from
recurring revenues generated from 9,244 Class II player stations,
as well as from record revenue from the sales of 1,062 Class III
player stations in the state of Washington. I will provide a little
more detail for you now on the quarter.
Net revenue from New Generation player stations, both Reel
Time Bingo and MegaNanza™, was $21.5 million, compared
to net revenue of $22.7 million in the March 2003 quarter. The
decrease
was a result of an approximately 15% decline in hold per day for
our New Generation player stations, which was partially offset
by an approximate 13% increase in the average installed base of
New Generation player stations during the quarter.
Revenue from sales of Class III player stations and ancillary
products was $9.9 million, compared to revenue of $2.0 million
for the Class
III sales in the March 2003 quarter. EBITDA in the quarter was
$20.0 million, an increase of 33.8% from $14.9 million in the June
2002 quarter. New Generation player station hold per day declined
15% to $114 in the June 2003 quarter, from a hold per day of $134
in the March 2003 quarter. The primary reason for the lower hold
per day is the increase in the number of gaming devices that we
do not believe are legal Class II games based on past litigation
and recent comments by representatives of the NIGC, and electronic
pull-tab games and competitors’ electronic bonanza-bingo
games similar to our MegaNanza game, which we are no longer installing.
In addition, we believe the hold per day also reflects the continued
economic weakness in Oklahoma, and continued placements of incremental
units in existing halls.
During the quarter, we placed a net of 797 New Generation player
stations, and removed a net of 181 Legacy player stations, for
net Class II placements of 616 units. During the quarter, we placed
a total of 1,208 Reel Time Bingo player stations, of which 396
were conversions from MegaNanza player stations.
For the period
ended June 30th, we installed 315 new Reel Time Bingo player
stations in California, resulting in an installed
base of 527 units in California. The hold per day for the California
units is significantly less than the average for our New Generation
Class II Network. Our net revenue per day per player station from
Reel Time Bingo player stations in the June quarter was approximately
$32, on an average of 5,840 units installed, and the net revenue
per player station per day from MegaNanza player stations was approximately
$44, on an average of 1,112 units installed. The average net revenue
per player station per day for MegaNanza continues to be higher
than net revenue per day for Reel Time Bingo, due to fact that
the five locations still running MegaNanza are locations that have
historically reported a higher net revenue per day than the overall
network average. In fact, 595 of the MegaNanza player stations,
or approximately two-thirds of the remaining MegaNanza units, are
in New York tribal gaming facilities that have traditionally exceeded
the network average of our Oklahoma units. Also the higher installed
base of Reel Time Bingo, including incremental installations intended
to optimize revenues and EBITDA during periods of high demand,
has the effect of lowering the average net revenue per player station
per day.
Our SG&A expenses increased $1.0 million, from $9.6 million
for the June 2002 quarter to $10.6 million for the current quarter.
The increase in SG&A expense in the June quarter was primarily
the result of increased salaries, wages and employee benefits for
additional personnel hired to address the Company’s gaming
development needs, and from the additional facilities expense resulting
from the greater number of employees. Repairs and maintenance also
increased slightly due to the greater number of player stations
in the field during the June 2003 quarter. Depreciation and amortization
in the June 2003 quarter increased to $5.5 million, from $5.1 million
in the March 2003 quarter. Depreciation and amortization expense
as a percentage of the average net PP&E was 9.6% for the current
quarter compared to 10.3% in the March 2003 quarter. The decrease
is related to capitalized costs for the WinStar gaming facility
and the New York Lottery project, which are not yet being depreciated
in the June quarter, as these assets were not placed in service
during the period. We will begin depreciating assets related to
WinStar in the current quarter, as the facility is conducting its
official opening this morning.
Research and development expenses increased by 65.5% to $2.5
million in the June 2003 quarter, from $1.5 million for the June
2002 quarter.
The increase in research and development expenses is due to an
increase in the number of employees in our technology and development
group, which reflects our long-standing efforts to develop new
gaming products, systems and content for the Class II and Class
III markets as well as other potential markets that we may enter.
Our cash balance on June 30th was $19.0 million, compared to
$25.1
million at March 31st. The decline was the result of tax payments
of $9.9 million during the quarter, and advances of $6.9 million
for the WinStar project. Notes receivable increased from $2.6 million
as of March 31st, 2003 to $11.4 million as of June 30th, 2003,
primarily due to the sales of Class III Player Stations during
the quarter, as well as for the portion of a note receivable for
construction advances relating to the WinStar facility that is
to be repaid to the Company. Of the outstanding notes receivable
balance relating to the Class III player station sales, we received
$4.1 million this month.
As expected, inventory decreased from $15.1 million at March
31st, 2003 to $13.0 million as of June 30th. Included in the
$13.0 million
of inventory is $4.2 million of player stations and related equipment
for the WinStar facility that opened today. As of June 30th, 2003,
we had 1,134 finished player stations in inventory with a total
cost of $5.8 million, and had new and used component parts inventory
of $7.2 million. Our net property and equipment increased from
$53.9 million as of March 31st, 2003 to $61.1 million as of June
30th, 2003, largely due to the costs associated with the WinStar
project and the placement of player stations in the Class II market.
Total additions to fixed assets during the quarter were $12.9 million,
and we have provided a detailed break-out of the cap-ex in our
earnings release.
During the quarter, we entered into a credit facility agreement
with Comerica Bank for $15 million, and drew down approximately
$2.5 million. Our long-term debt and capital lease obligations
on June 30th, 2003 totaled $9.2 million, compared to $6.0 million
at March 31st, 2003. The increase in debt during the past quarter
includes the $2.5 million drawn from Comerica, approximately $320,000
for vendor financing from HP related to the New York Central System
contract, and approximately $740,000 for other debts, such as automobiles
and other computer equipment. We continue to believe that given
the current interest rate environment and the overall capital structure,
that this debt level is very conservative and gives us flexibility
with our cash and balance sheet to take advantage of growth opportunities
such as additional funding of travel, gaming facility development
and expansion. During the June 2003 quarter, we capitalized $277,000
in software and $211,000 in equipment and third-party software
for the New York Lottery Central System project. To date, for the
New York Lottery project, we have capitalized internally developed
software of $1.6 million and equipment of $3.3 million. The New
York Lottery project is currently estimated at $15.8 million, which
is $1.3 million more than we previously projected, with the increase
largely due to hardware and software upgrades, which support a
significantly larger system than we originally anticipated. The
New York Lottery contract will not have an earnings impact on the
current fiscal year, as it is currently anticipated that the initial
placements of VLTs will be late in calendar 2003. Our revenues
under this contract would be a small percentage of the hold of
all installed VLTs over the five-year contract.
As Clifton noted, WinStar, which opened this morning, is the
name of the tribal gaming facility that is located approximately
60
minutes north of Dallas. And we’re sure you will be hearing
many great things about this facility in the future. Under the
terms of the agreement, which is for six years, MGAM maintains
title to the personal property on and within the site. And the
tribe, which is one of our largest and longest-standing customers,
will reimburse MGAM up to one-third of the total cost advanced
for the project. The tribe has an option to extend the contract
to seven years, at which point, if exercised, we would relinquish
title to all personal property. The amounts that are advanced in
excess of those reimbursed by the tribe for real property or leasehold
improvements will be allocated to an intangible asset and amortized
over the life of the contract. During the June quarter, we advanced
$6.9 million for the WinStar project, for total advances of $9.3
million as of June 30th. In accordance with the contract terms
just discussed, of the $9.3 million advance as of June 30th, we
reported a $3.0 million note receivable from the tribe, capitalized
$4.6 million in property and equipment, and allocated $1.7 million
to intangible assets. Depreciation and amortization of the related
assets will begin today as the facility is now open. The estimated
cost to complete the facility is $10.2 million, which is $1.2 million
over our original estimate of $9.0 million. Earlier this month,
we incorporated several upgrades to the facility requested by the
tribe, which accounted for a significant portion of the cost overrun.
Based on current business trends, the regulatory environment,
and general economic conditions, Multimedia Games now believes
earnings
per share for FY2003 will be between $2.10 and $2.15, compared
to prior guidance of $2.30. As we noted in this morning’s
release, the revised guidance reflects expectations for a moderate
quarterly sequential decline in our average hold per day for our
New Generation player stations, largely a result of the ongoing
availability of “non-Class II games,” and first- and
second-generation electronic bonanza-bingo style games that compete
with the majority of our Class II offerings. We also expect the
current quarter to be affected by continuing unfavorable economic
conditions in Oklahoma.
It’s important to note that we do expect that the overall
net gaming revenues will increase on a monthly sequential basis
from June through September. This increase is primarily due to
an expected higher installed base of New Generation player stations,
which will be offset somewhat by the lower level of hold per day
we discussed. Despite some of the earnings pressure we experienced
in the third quarter, which we believe will continue through the
current quarter, we are not making any significant changes to our
longer-term earnings growth target. Clifton will spend some time
addressing some important developments that we believe will support
our ability to maintain a healthy growth rate in our earnings.
Finally, I just wanted to note that when we file our 10-Q
for the
quarter, there will be a new disclosure in the Legal Proceedings
section of the document. This disclosure relates to a lawsuit filed
in federal court alleging that the Company interfered with the
plaintiff’s contract with an Oklahoma tribe. Last month,
the plaintiff claimed its damages were between $5.6 million and
$13.2 million. The case is scheduled for a jury trial in August.
The Company believes that it will prevail on litigation, but as
with any litigation, we can make no assurance as to the outcome
of any jury trial. Now I will turn the call back over to Clifton
for a little bit more commentary on the June 2003 quarter and an
update on some of our strategic initiatives. Clifton?
CLIFTON LIND:
Thanks, Craig. Let me provide some additional insight on our recent
Class II operations. Network-wide average daily hold for player
stations on our New Generation games was disappointing during April,
May, and especially June, as a result of the factors which we outlined
in the release, and which Craig just reviewed. We believe that
hold per day hit its low point in July and will rebound in August.
Our efforts to improve the short and long-term performance of our
core Class II operations continues to focus on providing the most
exciting content and the most innovating gaming engines and advanced
gaming systems.
We expect to see increases in the network-wide results, the
full benefit of which we won’t realize until FY04, based on the
following initiatives that are being implemented this quarter:
- First, the scheduled installation of the Gen4 gaming system in
Class II facilities beginning next week, and followed shortly thereafter
by the local- and wide-area progressives and complex bonus-round
games that are powered by that system;
- Second, several installations currently being scheduled are for
key sites outside of Oklahoma, where the hold per day should be
greater than the recent network averages;
- Third, the release in 1Q FY04 of two additional Class II gaming
engines, which we believe will be extremely well received by the
players. The schedule for these new gaming engine releases is consistent
with our history of accelerating the rate of new gaming engine
releases to respond to the players’ expectation for the rapid
release of new exciting content;
- Fourth, our accelerated placement of our newest Reel Time games,
including WMS’ Reel ’em In® and Filthy Rich®,
and our own Who’s Your Froggy?™ where they can have
the most impact. As expected, these games are meeting with strong,
positive customer response. We also have developed specific promotions
around these games targeting players of competitors’ units,
and using these new games to reclaim players from the games already
identified by NIGC as not having the attributes and interactivity
required to qualify as Class II games; and,
- Finally, with the approval of our tribal customers, we will resume
converting the remaining MegaNanza player stations in the field
to take advantage of the growing number of game faces that Reel
Time Bingo offers.
In addition, WinStar is opening this morning, and its recent trends
pointing to an immediate strong performance are encouraging. The
hold per day per player station in the older facility, as well
as the two nearby facilities, is up dramatically over the last
month. We view this uptick in performance of player stations in
the old facility as a small reflection of the amount of pent-up
demand for the recently completed WinStar project. We are excited
about today’s opening, and remind those of you visiting the
Dallas area to please take the short ride up to WinStar and sample
for yourself this new gaming center concept.
We have slated WMS’ Jackpot Party® and Mikohn’s
Yahtzee® and our own Jeff Foxworthy’s Pickup Payday™ for
release in the next two to four weeks, and by the end of August,
three different wide-area progressives based on Bally’s Betty
Boop™ themes will be released. All six of these games are
expected to draw players from competitors’ machines and to
help us acquire additional premium floor space. I hope you all
understand that we are not standing still waiting for the regulators
to bring equilibrium to the marketplace. We have a well thought-out
and proactive strategy, which uses our arsenal of marketing, technology
development, tribal relationships, our broad array of mass-appeal
licensed game faces, and the strength and flexibility of our current
architectures to improve the performance of our Class II gaming
offerings.
Let me spend a moment now talking about several other of our
latest gaming systems, Gen4 installations and game development
efforts
that are critical to our success. The Class III version of Gen4
is now installed at three of our largest Washington casinos, and
has been operating robustly and efficiently, to the delight of
the staff, for some time. The players are enthusiastic about the
new portfolio of games that it supports. The release of this system,
along with the accelerated pace of game releases lead us to believe
that we are in line to sell a meaningful number of additional units
in the Washington market as it continues to expand.
As a result of the upgrades requested by the tribe and a few
minor construction delays, the opening of WinStar was delayed
from May
until today. One of the reasons we feel pretty good about the reported
third quarter results is that we accomplished this without the
benefit of WinStar. Of course, the fact that WinStar will be open
for only a part of Q4 is a contributing factor in our decision
to reduce the Q4 estimate.
For our tribal customers, projects such as WinStar are of great
benefit to them. Our financing gives them the opportunity to build
new facilities or upgrade existing ones, which not only expands
their revenue base, but also improves the quality of the entertainment
experience for their customers. When analyzing which project to
do, we insist that any of the potential transactions must first
be substantial and meaningful for our tribal partners, if they
are to be good for MGAM.
- For MGAM, these transactions provide us with a meaningful short-term
return on capital;
- Second, they increase the number of our deployed Class II player
stations, providing us with long-term sources of recurring revenues;
- And third, in a competitive environment, they maximize the probability
that we will continue to dominate the floor space for the short
and the long run; and,
- Furthermore, we are getting significant interest in casino development
agreements from states outside of our core Class II markets, and
by entering into more such agreements, we have the potential to
have a good majority of our customers on long-term contracts.
As I said before, we would like to do as many of these transactions
as possible because they provide substantial advantages to our
customers and an acceptable return to us. We are confident that
the soon-to-be-available results from WinStar will validate the
wisdom of this type of transaction, first of all for our tribal
partners, and secondly, for MGAM.
I’m very excited to report that our team has recently signed
contracts for four additional such projects. We’ve committed
up $26 million for these projects, two of which are located in
small markets, one in a medium market, and one in large market.
We expect to begin construction on these facilities late in 2003
with expected completion dates varying between the summer and fall
of 2004. These facilities will result approximately 1,500 additional
player station installations, and long-term commitments at these
sites for approximately 2,400 units. We expect to fund these facilities
through our existing cash on hand, cash flow from operations, or
if needed, our credit facility. Furthermore, we have identified
and are working with tribes on four new development funding opportunities,
two of which are outside of Oklahoma. We are also in dialogue and
negotiations with several other East Coast, West Coast and Midwest
tribes, some of which, like WinStar, are in close proximity to
major metropolitan feeder markets. Our expectation is that we will
be able to announce additional agreements throughout fiscal 2004.
These development agreements will continue to play a large role
in our Class II expansion initiatives. Ultimately, we expect that
as we complete more of these development funding agreements, we
will have a meaningful portion of our recurring revenue sources
secured via long-term contracts.
In the near future, we expect to complete two software development
initiatives, which will place our player stations on same currency
protocol and allow our player stations to interface with the player’s
club systems operating at the casinos in California. Following
the anticipated improved performance of our player stations, we
expect a number of additional compacted tribes will be motivated
to add some more of our Class II games in order to meet their peak
weekend demand, as our games offer a more attractive means of increasing
the level of gaming offerings for their patrons above the 2,000
machine limit set by the compact. Additionally, we continue to
believe that some of the gaming floor managers in California are
waiting for the NIGC opinion letter on Reel Time Bingo before placing
meaningful orders for our Class II player stations.
In the charity and related markets, as many of you know, we
have believed for long time that the charity gaming market is
an attractive
opportunity to continue to build the top line and diversify our
sources of revenue. Current estimates indicate that there are over
60,000 organizations currently conducting some form of charitable
gaming in the United States. We have made significant progress
in a number of important jurisdictions in this market, and for
the first time, we will be including revenue expectations from
charity gaming when we issue our FY04 guidance next quarter.
As a designated central [system] supplier for the New York
Video Lottery system to be operated at licensed racetracks around
New
York State, I would like to take this opportunity to once again
acknowledge the marketing, technology, and operating teams at MGAM,
who on our first try, have positioned us as the leader in this
market. However, this is not really new ground for us, as we have
been running central determinant systems for many years. It is,
however, a great example of our ability to apply our vast array
of technology, architectures, and resources logically to systematically
enter new markets. The New York Lottery System is scheduled for
a December 2003 deployment; however, recently, one of the racetracks
has asked us to accelerate that to support a November opening,
and we have committed to do that if that facility is ready to go
in November. We anticipate that the development and initial operation
of the system will be smooth and efficient, because many of the
modules of Gen4 are embodied in the New York system, and this system
has been operating with an extraordinary level of stability in
Washington State for some time.
At full build-out, some analysts and published sources now
estimate that New York State Lottery’s Video Lottery could encompass
20,000 video lottery terminals, substantially higher than originally
anticipated, and among the largest in the nation. New York is an
important step in our efforts to diversify our revenue sources
by applying our technological skills and resources to other aspects
of the gaming industry. Once the New York VLT system is up and
running, we’ll receive a small percentage of the daily hold
from every player station that is deployed in the field. We’re
proud to have been named as a New York supplier. We’ve been
proud to work with the staff of the New York Lottery, and we’re
looking forward to the financial benefits that this will bring
us. But we believe that this only will be the first step in a short
journey to enter additional racinos and other related gaming markets
nationwide. This statement is, again, a reflection of my confidence
in our teams’ ability to design, develop and deploy central
determinant systems that provide unparallel levels of functionality
and stability. Many of you can list off the many other states which
are considering racino and other gaming legislation, and in the
aggregate, the number of gaming player stations to be deployed
appears to be quite large. MGAM is making the contacts necessary
and doing needs assessment in many of these jurisdictions to ensure
that when the time comes, we’re ready to again secure the
business with the winning proposal.
MGAM has been investing heavily in systems that will offer
a broad selection of advanced services to gaming operators by
early in
2004. In addition, other industry participants have approached
us considering collaborations or joint ventures to facilitate more
effective penetration of the Native American and other American
gaming markets.
Clearly, we have a lot going on and not only have we made great
progress in our effort to maintain and build the placements of
our Class II player stations, but also in our efforts to expand
geographically, as well as to diversify into other areas where
our core competencies and technologies can allow us to quickly
be successful in ancillary areas of the gaming business.
I would like to first address a few non-operating topics before
we go to Q&A. First, in the near future, for tax and estate
planning purposes only, I will transfer a number of my MGAM shares
into a family partnership, which I will continue to control. This
will be reported as required through SEC Form 4 filings. On the
same day, you will see that I disposed of the stock and then I
acquired the stock. I just wanted to not surprise any of the investors
with this transaction. It is not a change in my effective ownership
of controlled stock, and it will continue to be reported as controlled
stock. Furthermore, I intend to give some stock to my family members
and to the charitable foundation controlled by wife and children.
And finally, between now and March, and consistent with the terms
of my note, I will surrender some MGAM shares to the Company to
satisfy my outstanding loan to (sic) [from] the Company.
The second question that we get frequently is what our stand
is on the share repurchase by the Company. I want to address
this
now, in a public forum. With our balance sheet in the strongest
position ever, and having completed a $15 million credit facility
with Comerica, we are in a far better position than earlier this
year to, if we deem it appropriate, repurchase some MGAM shares
on the open market, pursuant to the approximately 500 (sic) [1,950,000]
share buyback authorization presently in place. We will, of course,
continue to weigh the potential buyback of stock against our other
uses of the cash. And as I discussed earlier, we’ve committed
about $26 million to signed development agreements. However, with
$19.0 million of cash on our balance sheet, and the WinStar facility
about to begin returning cash, we have the resources to get a lot
done, including future investment in technology, more development
agreements and buyback of stock if we deem it appropriate. We will,
as always, look at all these options, and endeavor to make allocations
which will be in our shareholders’ interest. At this time,
I would like to open the floor for questions.
OPERATOR:
Thank you, sir. Today’s question and answer session will
be conducted electronically. If you would like to ask a question,
please do so by pressing the star key, followed by the digit one
on your touch-tone telephone. Once again, please press star, one
for question. And we will pause for just one moment to assemble
our question roster. And we will take our first question from Chad
with Roth Capital.
CHAD COOPER:
Good morning, Clifton; and good morning, Craig.
CLIFTON LIND:
Hi, Chad.
CRAIG NOUIS:
Good morning.
CHAD COOPER:
Congratulations, pretty solid quarter. Wanted to be first congratulate
you on the operations that you have direct control over. It seems
like you guys are executing well there. And my questions have to
do more with the areas that you have less control over. And so
maybe you could give some color on your fourth quarter EPS guidance.
Specifically, what do you expect the hold per day should be relative
to the June quarter, or differently maybe, where was it - where
was the hold per day in June, to get a sense for how that’s
trending?
CRAIG NOUIS:
Chad, I will take that question. The hold per day for June, as
we discussed, was down for the past quarter. What we found was
[that during] the three month June quarter, the holds were decreasing
for the factors that we had previously outlined. As of—June
was definitely the lowest point in terms of the hold per day, and
has reached about $107 for New Generation games. We have seen that
plateau, and we have the belief that it is somewhat rising slightly
right now, and we expect it to increase slightly over the quarter.
But as we had mentioned previously, our net gaming revenues we
expect to go up also because of the continued placements of units
out there.
CHAD COOPER:
Are you seeing the July hold per day, at a similar $107 level?
CLIFTON LIND:
July hold per day was lower than the June hold per day. But we
have seen it rebound, and the recent trends over the last two weeks
show that it is starting back up, and we expect it to be a reasonable
amount in August. September has always been a month in the past
in our pure bingo business that the hold was slightly below what
it was in August because of the fact that school is starting and
some of the disposable income that has been spent on gaming in
the past has been traditionally used to buy school clothes and
other things. We have attracted a new group of younger players
who may not be subject to those same considerations this year,
and so we are interested to see what is going to happen in September.
But historically, it would have been just marginally lower than
what we see in August.
CHAD COOPER:
And what assumptions are you using in your hold per day to come
up with your fourth quarter guidance?
CLIFTON LIND:
Very modest assumptions.
CHAD COOPER:
Okay. And just a follow-up question on NIGC. It sounds like a potential
impasse with NIGC as it relates to changes they have requested.
Are they changes that you’re just, you know, dead set against
making?
CLIFTON LIND:
Chad, I would not at all classify it as an impasse. As you are
aware better than most, the regulation of Class II gaming is a
primary responsibility of our tribal partners. And all of our tribal
partners understand the laws, rules, regulations and the case law
that govern Class II gaming, and we feel that, in what has been
a very good negotiation, we think the NIGC is doing a good job
working with all the vendors in trying to come up with guidelines
to help the industry in the future. There are some things that
just appear to be preferences and do not appear to be supported
by the law. I have some obligation to support our tribal customers,
who are the primary regulators and who are the ones who have all
weighed in on Reel Time Bingo 1.2. And so, if there are changes
that [they] requested that I just don’t believe are supported
by laws, regulations, or statutes, [changes] that go slightly too
far, I have to push back a little bit. But, as I said earlier,
I am convinced that we will get a Class II letter. The tribes are
the ones who will decide if any of the games that are under consideration
are ever going to be played, and so I am trying to make sure that
this long process we’ve been in is a success for the tribes
as well as for the industry. And there are just some changes that
I have asked to be reconsidered, and they are in the process, I
think, of considering that request. And so in no way do I believe
that we are at an impasse. But substantially all of the changes
appeared to be fair to all parties concerned, but I thought that
there were a few that were just not necessary, and again, out of
a fierce loyalty to [and wanting to support the tribes, I wanted
to take my stand initially and request reconsideration of some
of those changes, but I am sitting here today feeling confident
that we will get an agreement with the NIGC.
CHAD COOPER:
I understand that. When was the NIGC request for additional changes?
CLIFTON LIND:
The last set of changes were requested within the last the last
three to four weeks.
CHAD COOPER:
Okay. Thanks very much guys, talk to you soon.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thank you, Chad
OPERATOR:
We go next to Jeff Martin with Roth Capital.
JEFF MARTIN:
Thanks, guys. Question on your installations scheduled for fourth
quarter, excluding the 600 additional that will go into WinStar.
How many do you anticipate you’ll place of the New Generation
games?
CLIFTON LIND:
We think it’s going to—you said for the fourth quarter
for the New Generation games outside WinStar—obviously, a
lot is dependent upon many things that [will] get resolved with
NIGC classification letter, but we continue to believe that 600
or so net placements for the quarter is still a good number in
addition to the WinStar placement.
JEFF MARTIN:
Okay. And what about for 2004?
CLIFTON LIND:
We are not changing our expectations for the overall placement.
We’re still targeting at least 200 net additional placements
per month, and if things go our way on some major developments,
the major developments could [add up to] be [a number] larger than
that [2,400], or it may be that some of the minor developments
are necessary to meet that 2,000 (sic) [2,400 annually]. We are
in some cases refusing to deploy additional machines in locations
where we believe that there are already a sufficient number of
machines to take care of the demand, and so we may see some of
the deployments in our smaller, older facilities, [to] sort of
stabilize [things], and not be increasing [deployments] in the
future.
JEFF MARTIN:
Okay. And then once you put in the bonusing and wide-area capabilities,
how quickly do you think the hold will improve and to what level?
CLIFTON LIND:
Well, we released three bonus-round games on the Gen3 system and
Reel Time Bingo 1.2 several weeks ago, and their performance for
those particular machines in most cases is extremely better than
the network as a whole or the best-performing machines in those
same halls. But I need to caution you that the tribal managers
are in control of the mix, and there will be probably only be 10%
to 15% of the machines initially put on the wide-area progressive
system, and probably only 25% to 40% of the balance of the machines
put on bonus-round games, so that there will always be an appropriate
mix for the players in the hall. So you cannot assume that every
machine that’s placed out there is going to be either a wide-area
progressive or that it’s going to be a bonus round game,
but I will tell you that there is ample data available on the industry
that shows the performance of these progressives and bonus round
games. I will just direct you to some data after the call is over.
JEFF MARTIN:
Okay. Are you taking a higher percentage share of the revenue on
wide-area progressives, or will it be somewhat similar to your
overall blended—?
CLIFTON LIND:
—
No. It’s going to be similar.
JEFF MARTIN:
Okay. And then finally, these lawsuits that Craig spoke of, does
that cover, does one of them cover the WinStar problem?
CLIFTON LIND:
No. This is something that we quite frankly thought would have
a good chance of getting settled or dismissed prior to going to
trial. But the parties couldn’t get in agreement, and so,
as we said, we intend to prevail, we think we will prevail. However,
in a jury trial, there is no way to predict what’s going
on, and we thought the smart thing to do was to make you aware
of this, because it’s never been mentioned before in any
of our public discussions.
JEFF MARTIN:
Okay. I appreciate that. Thanks, guys.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thanks.
OPERATOR:
And we will go next to David Bain with The Seidler Companies.
DAVID BAIN:
Thank you. Good morning.
CLIFTON LIND:
Hey, David.
DAVID BAIN:
How are you doing?
CLIFTON LIND:
Okay.
DAVID BAIN:
All right. Question one: You mentioned in the press release and
on the call that you are not relying on enforcement actions alone
to increase the hold per day, or for that matter, a letter, and
that you are releasing two additional Class II gaming engines for
Q1 ‘04. I guess, question a) from that standpoint is, in
your mind, would those be able to compete with the current high-performing
games out there that may be deemed Class III?
CLIFTON LIND:
You know, David, as a public company and a licensed company, we
have always been in the position where we could not cross the line.
Before we can bring out any game, we make sure that not only our
internal compliance staff and our senior management, along with
all of our staff of many gaming attorneys concur that what we are
about to put out is a Class II game. But, I want say that that
the reality is we always have been competing in Class II venues
with games that don’t appear to be Class II games, and don’t
appear to have the [required] interactivity, and we always will
be. And so, it is a part of strategy continually to develop new
gaming engines that—and as you know, we’ve replaced
them almost every 18 months in the past, and we are accelerating
the rate of release—it will probably be a little over 12
months or 13 months since we came out with the Reel Time engine.
And, I wouldn’t be investing in these new gaming engines
if I did not think that they would perform well against the existing,
apparently non-Class II competition that’s out there.
DAVID BAIN:
Right. Is it a bingo-based platform and did it come about with
discussions with the NIGC in working along, some of the—when
you saw how their mind worked—or is it something completely
different than what we have seen from Reel Time?
CLIFTON LIND:
Well it’s going to—there are going to be two different
offerings. One that is going be completely different than something
you have seen from Reel Time, and something that we think is a
significant improvement on Reel Time. To answer your other question,
yes, all of these new things are the result of our continued review
of laws, and continually listening very carefully to public comments
that NIGC is making about where they would like to see the industry
go. However, these games are not specifically being discussed with
NIGC, and until we get the Reel Time Bingo issue and the other
two games stabilized here that are currently under review, I don’t
think it is appropriate for us begin any new discussions.
DAVID BAIN:
Okay. Okay. Great.
CLIFTON LIND:
But certainly, I have to say, NIGC has been very forthcoming in
their consultations with the tribes over the last four weeks. We
have attended many of these personally, and have benefited greatly
from the very clear delineation of NIGC’s current views,
and we think it has been helpful to the tribes and has certainly
been helpful to the vendors.
DAVID BAIN:
Right. In the press release, you also cited a competitor that was
cited, in maybe a correspondence with NIGC that their game could
be deemed Class III, and that competitor looks like they had a
very popular game—is that a bonanza engine?
CLIFTON LIND:
No. The one that I was talking about that has already been cited?
No.
DAVID BAIN:
Yes. Okay. And, I guess my question is, it sounds like they—those
high-performing dollars will go into your game if they are taken
off the floor. What percentage of the tribes do you expect will
take heed or follow the NIGC’s position on bonanza-style
bingo when they cite the games for whatever reason as potentially
being Class III? And, do you think that your Class II letter will
help them in coming to that conclusion, to take those games off
the floor? In essence, giving something in return?
CLIFTON LIND:
Let me say that, David, that there is not a greater supporter of
tribal sovereignty than the person you are currently speaking to
and I can’t go forward—you know, it’s not a question
of the tribes taking the lead; under IGRA, the tribes are the principal
regulators of Class II games. Now, the tribes are in constant communication
and consultation with the NIGC over the interpretations of the
case law, the statutes and the regulations, and they certainly
try to be constructive and have a dialogue that draws the industry
together instead of creating a conflict. But, I want to point out
very quickly that the tribes will make their own decision, and
there are tribes that, once they rule a game is Class II, nothing
short of an enforcement action and administrative process will
lead them to remove a game from the floor. And there are others
that have a policy of saying, especially those that are not in
a competitive environment, will say, “Look, we are only going
to run Class II games that NIGC has issued a ruling on.” So,
it is impossible for me to speak for the tribes; there will be
some at both ends of that spectrum, and then like most situations,
the majority of them will be in the middle of the road on these
issues. But, I can’t give you a number.
DAVID BAIN:
Okay. Well, just finally, moving on to systems. The economics on
systems—there will be a one-time fee from the operator and
a recurring maintenance fee?
CLIFTON LIND:
I don’t understand your question.
DAVID BAIN:
I guess, going forward, it sounded like you were going to provide
back-end systems to some of the casinos, Class II casinos. Did
I miss that? Am I misunderstanding that?
CLIFTON LIND:
We certainly have a—we are certainly aggressively talking
to the tribes about a plethora of products for their casinos, including
a casino-wide back-end system, player tracking systems that have
been greatly improved, and all of the modules that you normally
find associated with a casino management system. And, in some cases,
those discussions include a sale for a one-time fee and then some
ongoing maintenance revenue. In other situations, there is no front-end
fee, but there are other commitments that are being agreed upon
that make it lucrative for us to enter into the arrangements. So,
I think that each individual case is going to be different from
the other ones depending on the size of the facility, how many
facilities each particular tribe has, and how many of those different
facilities they network into the same central system. So, there
is no way to give you an answer; there will be a number of business
models supporting our delivery of other systems.
DAVID BAIN:
Okay. Well, congratulations on the four development projects, and
thank you.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thank you David, and thank you for your support, and we are going
to try to take advantage of all the opportunities that we see before
us in the immediate future. Next question, operator.
OPERATOR:
Once again as a reminder, if you’d like to ask a question,
please press star one on your touchtone telephone. And we will
pause for just one moment. And we do have a question from David
Rainey with Akre Capital.
DAVID RAINEY:
Great, thank you. Several questions, Clifton. What will the new
gaming engines do that the current version of 2.0 doesn’t
do? Can you just give us some sense for how they are different,
or what their attributes are?
CLIFTON LIND:
I can just say that they are games that we believe the players
will find more entertaining and attractive than the current offerings
of Reel Time Bingo. I can’t—I mean, it is silly for
me to publicly alert our competition to anything beyond that.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. But are they—I think you refer to them as the “engines,” are
they the engines, or the games that actually run on the engines?
Can you clarify that?
CLIFTON LIND:
One of the things that we are so excited about Gen4 for is that
it lets us slip in a different engine to drive graphics that requires
either no or only slight modification—but you know, gaming
engines are simply a different way to play legal Class II games.
And so in some cases, the player will probably not notice the change
from one engine to another, and in other situations, there will
be radically new games that some players will find much more enjoyable
than the current games that they play.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. And do the engines reflect not only the generation of graphical
output but also either the speed or the outcome determination process?
CLIFTON LIND:
Absolutely, the engine is the heart of the outcome determination
process, and depending on the attributes included in the games
and the way that particular engine operates, that will determine
how fast the game is played.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, great. I was in Oklahoma about a month ago, and visited several
facilities and saw some of your new titles out in the field. I
think I saw a [Who’s Your] Froggy™, and I saw Winning
for Dummies™ and few others. Can you give us a sense for
how those titles have performed in June or July, versus your average,
either Company wide, or [versus] your average in Oklahoma?
CLIFTON LIND:
Yes. Those titles were only—have really basically only been
out in July.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
And they were introduced at the last part of June. I just want
to say that without going into numbers, that all of them performed
and are performing significantly higher than the network average,
and they’ve had a better uptick than any of the prior titles
that we’ve ever released.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. And so when you all look forward for fourth quarter guidance,
with those results in mind across the new titles, and I think you’ll
continue to roll out some additional titles, how do you factor
that into some of the guidance that—the conversation you
had with Chad earlier?
CLIFTON LIND:
Well, that the fact here is that, as we have seen it, most of the
additional new titles will not get rolled out until the last two
weeks of August—the first of the new titles. And then, between
now and the end of the year, we are rolling out 15 new titles at
the end of our fiscal year.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
And so—but most of those games will be rolled out in the
last few weeks of September. So, they are going to have relatively
little impact on this current quarter that we’re in. No matter
how strong they are, with an installed base of over 9,000 machines,
you know, they can’t—in the last two or three weeks
of the quarter, have a significant impact on the quarter as a whole.
DAVID RAINEY:
On the quarter as a whole and that—
CLIFTON LIND:
—
And as I said, you know, we think that the benefits of this we’ll
realize in the first fiscal quarter of ‘04.
DAVID RAINEY:
Right, and these new games require a truck-roll, in effect. These
are not games that could be updated from a central process pushed
down to the machine level. Am I correct?
CLIFTON LIND:
No, quite the contrary, we can push these games down from central
control, but we have to change the glass in the field—
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, right.
CLIFTON LIND:
And so, while we’re changing the glass, it only takes a few
seconds to load the new player station software.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, great. And just a question about the NIGC: you’ve mentioned
several times that you are confident you’ll get a letter.
I’m curious if your definition of what’s in a letter
has changed over the last six months, and I ask that in relation
to—do you feel that the letter will be narrowly focused rather
than broadly focused, and does that create a situation where you
would have to, I guess, in a sense, ask for new letters across
your two new engines, or would the two new engines potentially
be covered under a more broad letter that you’re currently
working on?
CLIFTON LIND:
Okay. I think it is the intent of the NIGC’s very forthcoming,
and public comments that they have made over the last four weeks
that they are trying to signal the tribal leaders what their current
view is on minimum requirements to be a Class II bingo game, and
what additional attributes they would like to see there—
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
—
and so, in any of the games that are governed by the specific bingo
regulations, that we’ll be bringing out, we are certainly
going to try to look to that public guidance, because we don’t
want to unnecessarily create a firefight where there doesn’t
need to be one. However, the real test of this is not what we want
to do, but what the tribal leaders are going to do, because the
tribal leaders have the primary responsibility for regulating Class
II gaming. One of the reasons I’m so excited about the consultations
that NIGC has been having is it appears that the tribal leaders
and the NIGC are having an excellent dialogue about Class II gaming
and the attributes of games. And so, I think that we’re going
to be looking to the tribes for guidance, not only from NIGC but
to the tribal leaders. But let me say, based upon what we have
learned so far, the new games we’re going to bring out are
consistent with the desires of NIGC and the tribal leaders in regards
to the attributes of Class II games.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, and just so I’m clear—
CLIFTON LIND:
But, NIGC only rules on a specific game with a specific specification
and a lab report to back it up.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
So, I mean, if there is any change of the attributes to the way
a game is played in any regard, it will not necessarily fall under
any specific letter that’s been issued to any vendor in the
past.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, and so when you say “game,” should I think of
that as a specific title like Vortex?
CLIFTON LIND:
No.
DAVID RAINEY:
Or should I think of it as an engine as in 2.0?
CLIFTON LIND:
I should have done a better job. What I’m talking about is
a gaming engine. For example, on Reel Time Bingo, by the end of
the year, we’ll have 50 titles out on that gaming engine.
DAVID RAINEY:
Is that 2.0 or 1.2?
CLIFTON LIND:
It is whichever one we are running at the time. All of the new
game faces, with the advent of Gen4, are reverse and forward compatible.
So, they can play on either system, whichever game a tribe may
choose to run. And let me say that there are at least three tribes
that are running different versions of 1.2, because the gaming
commissioners of those individual tribes have come back and said “We
want you to play the game this way.”
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
And all of our games are architected so that the gaming commissioners
can just pick and choose the attributes that they like.
DAVID RAINEY:
The attributes of the engines.
CLIFTON LIND:
Of the engines.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. And so, if you come out with two new engines early next year,
are they in the Reel Time Bingo family, or are they in a different
family now.?
CLIFTON LIND:
They will not be in the Reel Time Bingo family.
DAVID RAINEY:
They won’t.
CLIFTON LIND:
They will not.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. And could one of them be a game of skill?
CLIFTON LIND:
We’ve had games of skill developed for a long time.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
There’s just never been an appropriate venue that it was
advantageous to the tribes or advantageous and legal for the tribes
to run this game [at].
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. And—
CLIFTON LIND:
And Gen4 doesn’t care whether it’s a game-of-skill
engine or a bingo engine, you know, or a keno engine, or whatever
it is, as far as the outcome returns.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay. And just if you could—you now have, it sounds like,
over 500 machines in California—congratulations. I think
you mentioned earlier that you’re working on, I guess, what
are effectively electronic data interfaces between your game and
some of the casinos’ player tracking systems—
CLIFTON LIND:
That is correct.
DAVID RAINEY:
—
and/or ticket-in, ticket-out systems, things like this. Could you
just walk us through some of the, maybe issues or disappointments
the tribes have had, [and] what you’re trying to do to the
game?
CLIFTON LIND:
Sure.
DAVID RAINEY:
And what you would think that these enhancements would enable you
to do going forward?
CLIFTON LIND:
Sure. Many of the tribes, in their player tracking systems, give
real-time credits to the player. So, for example, for each dollar
a player bets, he gets back in real time $0.05 to bet again, and
so right off the bat, any player that is playing one of our machines
in California is playing in a more expensive machine because he
does not get a rebate—at least his perception is that he’s
not getting a rebate.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay.
CLIFTON LIND:
So, that is not attractive to most of the players, and the players
are very sensitive to that. The other thing is that in the player
tracking systems that are operating there [in California], in real
time, the players’ credits are showing up on the machine,
and the more the players play that night, the more their total
transactional credits, the more their airline miles are evident
to them in real time. And our surveys indicate, and our managers
out there indicate this is a very important feature to their players,
so we are adding that feature so that they can see in real time
the accelerating balances in their player credits for their players’ accounts,
as well as the cash credits if they are getting rebates. The final
thing is that we’re on a totally different currency system.
In any of our machines, you have to get a player’s club card
in order to play—on all the other four, you can walk in and
put a dollar in and be playing the game, and then of course, they’re
are on the intellectual property pool ticket-in, ticket-out system,
that allows them to get their credits out of the machine, and walk
over and put it into the next machine. As we said in the conference
call, we’ll very quickly be on the ticket-in, ticket-out
system, and once the appropriate approvals are made by the gaming
commission and the NIGC to link the accounting for Class II games
and Class III games, then we’ll be on not only the same currency
system, but using the same central bank to keep track of credits.
And so we think those three changes, which will all be deployed
in the field before the end of the calendar year, will be very
helpful in the California market and in some of the other markets
that we’re operating in currently or will be in the near
future.
DAVID RAINEY:
And so, would you anticipate that whatever your machine count is
in California at the end of this calendar year, that all those
machines will have seen these three changes you just walked through.
CLIFTON LIND:
No question.
DAVID RAINEY:
No question.
CLIFTON LIND:
Well, let me say—the last one—whether it is the individual
gaming commission and the NIGC [that] will determine whether or
not Class II or Class III systems can use the same central bank,
or whether the accounting for them has to be maintained separately,
I’m confident that the gaming commissioners and the NIGC
will see the advantages of that for the Class II casinos and the
Class III casinos where they operate both types of games, but I
can tell you that we’ll have the currency change, and we
will be interfaced with their players’ systems. I can’t
control how long it is going take either the individual proper
gaming commissioners nor the appropriate federal authorities to
approve the combination of the central bank, but as soon as they
do, that will be deployed, and we hope that is long before the
end of this year.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, is there any reason why the tribes would not want to have
a central bank, if you will?
CLIFTON LIND:
Oh no. I think the tribes will be very supportive of that, but
there’s—within the tribes, there are three different
factions that control gaming. One is the tribal council that has
its view and interest and perspectives, another is the gaming commission,
which has its own standards and because of IGRA, the gaming commission
has to be separate from the operators, and so oftentimes the gaming
commission and the operators take separate views of these things.
So it’s hard to predict in any one location, that you’ll
get all three tribal factions in alignment, and then in this case
we are also having to get the okay from the federal government—excuse
me NIGC, to combine banks, and so it’s just hard for me to
predict all that will happen.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, great. And just one quick last question. I think you mentioned
that next quarter, you might begin trying to give some guidance
on the growth of the charity market?
CLIFTON LIND:
Absolutely.
DAVID RAINEY:
And is that because of ongoing legislative changes in a couple
of markets that you all are aware of?
CLIFTON LIND:
It’s—yes, that would be a correct statement. However,
there are some markets that we will be announcing that we are entering
that probably do not require any legislative changes, because we
have developed products to meet current rules or regulations or
laws.
DAVID RAINEY:
And would these—are these products closer to a next-generation
game or a prior-generation game?
CLIFTON LIND:
In nearly all cases, the first step is going to be something that
is closer to a Legacy game than it is a next-generation game. Many
of the jurisdictions specifically forbid the display of spinning
reels or any other—anything other than a bingo card, and
it’s primarily bingo applications that we’re pursuing
right now, so it will not be products that are displaying, in most
cases, spinning reels or things you have come to associate with
slot machines.
DAVID RAINEY:
Okay, thank you.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thank you.
OPERATOR:
And that concludes today’s question and answer session. Mr.
Lind, I’d like to turn the call back over to you for any
additional and closing remarks.
CLIFTON LIND:
Thank you so much. I want to first thank all of our long-term supporters
and followers, as well as those whom we’ve only recently
met. I hope today’s call leaves you with the understanding
that there is an exciting opportunity to expand not only our industry-leading
position as a Class II gaming provider, and that we have several
ways in which we can do that. I also hope that we’ve done
a good job of stating why resumption of growth in the core market
will depend on our wide-reaching initiatives, new game content,
new systems, new architectures, new products and our other skills
to ramp up our hold per day. And to some extent, we are committed
to see an improvement over the near-term, regardless of the regulatory
environment that we find ourselves operating in, or the economic
situation that we find ourselves operating in. Quite simply, we
have to earn our business every day by having the most exciting
products on the floor, and we intend to regain our position as
a leader in that regard. I also trust that today’s press
release and call have been useful to you in understanding the direction
we are going in, the successes we are having, the challenges we
are now attempting to overcome, and the many areas where we have
prospects for continued future growth. We are confident that our
strong financial position and historical high margins and record
revenue and cash flow, and our emerging multiple revenue streams,
as well as our rifle-shot focus on expanding the number of revenue
sources in the immediate future, will provide the kind of growth
that our shareholders have come to expect in the past and that
we will return to this growth in the quarters and the years ahead.
As I stated before, I feel that we have some of the best talent
in our industry on our team and that with their outstanding contributions
and the contributions of all of our employees, we will continue
to provide service that is the standard by which other gaming
suppliers in our markets are measured, and products which keep
us the leader
among our customers. We look forward to reporting to you again
on our future progress when we report our fourth quarter results.
Thank you, once again and we look forward to a bright future.
We believe that we can continue to make the progress that we
need
to make, to return to the position of being the clear industry
leader in the markets that we choose to participate in. Thank
you so much.
OPERATOR:
And this does conclude today’s conference call. Thank you
for your participation. You may disconnect at this time.
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