Brief: WMS wins big Circus order

The order, which WMS said represents 18 percent of the Mandalay Bay slot total, includes versions of Monopoly, widely considered the hottest new slot product since Anchor Gaming's Wheel of Fortune.

The order is significant not only because it represents a major revenue gain for WMS, which has seen its gaming equipment sales explode while its pinball revenue has slumped.

The transaction also signals that, despite the opposition of casino operators such as Circus Circus to revenue-participation games, they will allocate a big portion of their slot mix to such games if customers demand them.

A WMS executive said Monopoly has been generating daily wins "as much as five times greater than house average," and that the typical revenue-participation agreement calls for the company to get about 20 percent of the net win.

Some $1 denomination Monopoly machines in Las Vegas are winning as much as $1,500 a day, according to gaming analyst Dave Ehlers of Las Vegas Investment Advisors.

WMS, which has posted losses in the past few years, "won't be happy" if its current year's gaming revenue doesn't more than double the $57 million in such sales last year, said Kevin Verner, WMS' chief operating officer.

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