IGT CEO says big buy will pay off

In an interview last week with local media Las Vegas Review-Journal at the company's Las Vegas headquarters, Hart defended the decision in February to spend up to us$ 500 million to acquire DoubleDown Casino, one of the largest social gaming operations on Facebook. He said the use of DoubleDown by customers is growing and would pay off on IGT's bottom line in the future. "At some point, with (ticket in-ticket out cashless gaming) as the shining example that no one will ever be able to replicate, (DoubleDown) will be the best investment we ever made," Hart said.

IGT developed ticket in-ticket out technology, which was slow to take hold in the early 2000s. The slot machine enhancement has since become the industry standard.

Over the past few decades, IGT spent billions acquiring rival slot machine developers, technology providers and Internet operations, such as United Kingdom-based WagerWorks. Most of the deals took place before Hart took over as CEO in April 2009.

DoubleDown could cost as much as us$ 500 million. IGT paid us$ 250 million in cash for the Seattle-based company, us$ 85 million in retention payments over the next two years for DoubleDown's employees, and up to us$ 165 million over a three-year period that is subject to certain financial targets.

Last year, IGT spent us$ 115 million to buy Entraction, an Internet gaming company based in Sweden. IGT shut down the Entraction's online poker operations in Europe a week ago because the business model was hurt by regulatory changes.