Gaming supplier is moving to LV

A small California company trying to market a coinless payment system for slot machines is moving its headquarters to Las Vegas.

Coinless Systems Inc., which trades over-the-counter, announced Tuesday that it has relocated its engineering and research and development offices to Las Vegas. That six-employee office will grow to 15 early next year, when Coinless Systems' offices relocate here, said company President Dennis Sorenson. The company is currently located in the Los Angeles suburb of Rancho Cucamonga.

Within 16 months, Sorenson hopes to increase the Las Vegas office to as many as 50 employees.

"We're in the gaming business, and that's obviously the hub of gaming corporate facilities," Sorenson said. "You just get more bang for your buck. You get a 19 percent (effective) pay increase going from California to Las Vegas."

Founded in 1995, Coinless markets a computer device that can be attached to existing slot machines on a casino's floor. Upon cash-out, a player is given the option of taking payment in coins, or printing out a ticket that can be cashed at a cage.

But if the player wants to play on another machine, the ticket can be inserted into a barcode reader that functions much like a bill reader and credits the player for the amount of cash on the ticket.

"You have the option of cash or coupon," Sorenson said. "It would be insane to go to the MGM Grand and say, 'Make the thing cashless.' It just wouldn't happen."

The company recently signed its first deal, when a casino in Oregon agreed to purchase 1,200 of the devices. No financial figures are available for the company, which falls below the asset threshold required before a company must file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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