Bill Eadington never built a billion-dollar Strip resort. He never managed a riverboat casino or a gambling hall of any size. Eadington never created a new table game. He never developed an innovative slot machine.

Yet, the influence Eadington carried inside and outside gaming circles during his 44-year academic career as an economics professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, went beyond measure. He founded the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at UNR.

Dozens of gaming industry professionals owe their careers to Eadington. Emerging gaming markets sought out Eadington’s research and advice as a consultant on issues related to regulation and law, public policy, and legalization.

He paved the road for academics in other disciplines, such as sociology and history, to study gaming.

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A gambler wishing to remain anonymous hit the statewide Megabucks slot machine jackpot, totaling more than $17.3 million, over the weekend at M Resort.

International Game Technology officials confirmed the jackpot Monday.

M Resort officials posted notice of the win on the hotel-casino’s Facebook page.

IGT operates the Megabucks system, which is located on slot machines inside casinos throughout Nevada.

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International Game Technology has agreed to a deal that will see the gaming technology company provide online casino and sportsbook operator Paddy Power Plc with a range of mobile games.

IGT officials said Thursday that the agreement represents a “significant extension to the companies’ existing partnership.”

The mobile games included in the deal are Da Vinci Diamonds, Cleopatra, Cats, Wolf Run, Kitty Glitter and Elvis A Little More Action.

The games will be available through paddypower.com as well as through Roller, a mobile site Paddy Power recently launched. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

IGT officials noted that the agreement will make Paddy Power the first customer of sportsbook and online gaming software supplier OpenBet Technologies to be given access to a range of mobile products via the Remote Gaming Server (RGS) Casino.

Contact reporter Chris Sieroty at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @sierotyfeatures on Twitter.
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Copyright 2012 Stephens Media Interactive GamingWire.
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Concerns over the looming fiscal cliff added increased volatility to an already shaky gaming sector.

Average daily stock prices for eight of the 12 casino operators and slot machine manufacturers followed by financial consultant Applied Analysis tumbled in November.

Boyd Gaming Corp. and Caesars Entertainment Corp. experienced double-digit percentage declines in their average daily stock prices despite events that what many analysts termed as good news.

Overall, the stock price dip contributed to a 10 point decline in the Applied Analysis Gaming Index, which accounts for more than 300 different market variables. It finished at 420.52.

Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon said mixed results in third-quarter earnings reports announced by several gaming companies contributed to the slide.

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October was one those “mixed bags” for the gaming industry.

Compared with a year ago, that average daily stock prices for 12 publicly traded gaming companies are down collectively 8.5 percent.

However, more than half of the companies followed by Las Vegas-based financial adviser Applied Analysis for the firm’s monthly gaming index, experienced moderate increases in their average daily price.

The index, which tracks some 300 market variables, grew 10.5 percent.

“The sector’s annual performance moved in an opposite direction compared to the broader equities market,” Applied Analysis principal Brian Gordon told the firm’s clients in a research report. “Gaming stocks appear to be making up ground.”

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It wasn’t enough that slot machines with the likenesses of Judge Judy, Spider-Man, Dolly Parton, top NASCAR drivers, and the Oompa Loompas will be unveiled at this week’s Global Gaming Expo.

The legendary rock band Kiss didn’t want to be left out of the picture.

No word, however, if band members Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons will be decked out in full Kiss makeup and costume when they introduce the machine Tuesday at the WMS Industries booth at the Sands Expo and Convention Center.

Gaming equipment manufacturing industry leaders believe this year’s four-day trade show and conference is focused more on the game, rather than the economic downturn that has depressed sales of new slot machines going back four years.

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