IGT pokies: the Las Vegas maker, who owns it now and how its machines pay

Who makes IGT pokies

IGT pokies are made by International Game Technology, a US gaming company now headquartered in Las Vegas. Its own 2013 annual report says it "was incorporated in Nevada in December 1980 to facilitate our initial public offering in 1981". The company has been bought twice since, and the IGT you see on a machine today is a privately owned business.

The 2025 release lists the new IGT's products as gaming machines, game content and systems, iGaming, sports betting, cash access, and loyalty and player engagement tools. Everi's copy of the release says it is organised into Gaming, Digital and FinTech business units. Everi's shares were delisted from the New York Stock Exchange as part of the deal.

IGT in Australia

IGT's Australian footprint shows up in its filings rather than on any page we could read. The fiscal 2013 annual report named its primary development facilities as Reno and Las Vegas in Nevada, San Francisco, Seattle, Beijing "and Australia (Sydney)", and placed Australia in its Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific customer region. IGT's own website refused automated reading when we checked, so we have not listed its current Australian games.

In Australia, real money pokies from IGT, like those from every other maker, are a land-based product. They can be played for money only in licensed clubs, hotels and casinos under state law. If you are comparing makers, the local giant is Aristocrat, covered in our aristocrat pokies guide.

IGT game franchises named in its reports

IGT's annual reports name a handful of its biggest brands:

Wide area and multi-level progressives share one thing: part of every bet feeds a jackpot pool that most players never touch. Our jackpot pokies guide works through what that contribution is worth per spin.

What IGT pokies must pay back in Australia

We could not read a per-game RTP from IGT, and in an Australian venue the figure that matters is set by state law, not by the maker.

GambleAware NSW says machines return 85% to 92% "of all money bet over their lifetime", and that this does not mean you get 85 to 92 cents back for each dollar in a session. Victoria's regulator says the same thing differently: RTP is calculated over thousands or millions of spins and "does not apply to a single player or session". For the full picture of how RTP and the random number generator fit together, see how do pokies work.

The odds behind a big venue prize

GambleAware NSW gives one number worth sitting with: "the odds of winning a typical $5,000 prize on a $1 poker machine are 9,700,000 to 1". In our calculation, at 600 spins an hour:

And the cost of those hours is not small. At $1 a spin and 600 spins an hour, $600 an hour goes through the machine. At a 90% return that is an average loss of $60 an hour, or $6,240 a year at 2 hours a week. The pokies calculator shows the same sum at your own bet and speed.

Pundit tip: the jackpot meter on a linked machine is the most visible number in the room and the least relevant to your night. The return percentage and your bet size decide what a session costs.

IGT slots online and the law

IGT lists iGaming among its products. In Australia, however, the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 prohibits online pokies being provided to people here, so no site can lawfully offer IGT titles to you for real money. It is not an offence to play, but ACMA blocks illegal gambling sites and you would have no Australian protection.

If pokies are costing more than you planned, gambling help australia lists free, confidential support, including Gambling Help on 1800 858 858.

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