In an effort to reduce costs and debt, International Game has laid off employees at its Reno and Las Vegas offices. The company would not confirm the information, reported by former employees, but Vice President for Corporate Communications Angela Wiczek said, “IGT is continuously working to ensure its workforce is appropriately matched to its business needs. We currently have a number of openings for positions in the Las Vegas and Reno offices across multiple disciplines.” Wiczek could not give an exact number of current employees.
Anonymous posts on www.thelayoff.com said the cuts have had an impact on quality assurance and product assurance, and that the entire 19-person Evolve Studio, which created animations and special effects for games, was let go. Last year IGT cut 260 people worldwide as part of a cost-cutting strategy.
As of December 31, 2016, IGT had 12,613 employees, according to its annual report. In its 2017 quarterly filings, the company said it has more than 12,000 employees.
In March 2014, IGT laid off 350- 375 people to cut costs in response to sluggish North American sales. A few months later, Rome-based lottery systems manufacturer GTECH SpA agreed to buy IGT for $4.7 billion in cash and stock. The deal was completed in 2015. By the end of that year, the combined company, which kept the name IGT, emerged with total debt of $8.4 billion and net debt of $7.7 billion. The merger did not produce higher revenue or earnings growth. IGT has steadily lost slots market share to Aristocrat, which has hampered its ability to quickly pay down its debt of $7.3 billion.
