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Pennsylvania Releases Gaming Protocols

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania – (PRESS RELEASE) -- The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue today announced that SAS 6.01 will be the initial communications protocol for slots gaming in the commonwealth.

Revenue Secretary Gregory C. Fajt said SAS 6.01 is the most widely used communications protocol in the gaming industry and will ensure that the broadest possible range of manufacturers can participate in the rollout of slots gaming in Pennsylvania.

The communications protocol, or rules used for the transmission and authentication of data, will be used to link slot machines at Pennsylvania gaming facilities to a central control computer system that will be overseen by the Department of Revenue. The computer system will monitor activity at each of up to 61,000 slot machines. It will eventually be the largest such system in the world.

Pennsylvania's central control computer system will be operated by GTECH Corporation, West Greenwich, RI, a global leader in gaming technology. Revenue selected GTECH in March following an open and competitive procurement process. A committee of Revenue Department employees that analyzed vendor proposals for seven months recommended the company. The committee determined that GTECH's proposal offered the best combination of experience in the gaming industry, technical expertise and cost.

"We are committed to using the best available technology to ensure the integrity and the success of slots gaming in Pennsylvania, and the best available company to implement that technology," Fajt said. "Adopting the SAS 6.01 communications protocol will help attract a broad range of slot machine manufacturers to supply Pennsylvania's new gaming industry.

"GTECH is an industry leader in the design and implementation of gaming technology. The company's state-of-the-art gaming central control computer system will give the Revenue Department and the Gaming Control Board sophisticated tools to monitor cash flow and other activity at each Pennsylvania slot machine, in real time."

Fajt said the Department's contract with GTECH has completed the commonwealth's review process and was formally executed this week. The contract will not go into effect until GTECH has undergone a comprehensive background check by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and been licensed by the board as a manufacturer.

Although the central control computer system will initially use the SAS 6.01 communications protocol, GTECH's contract allows the Revenue Department to require the company to implement a different standard industry protocol, if one is adopted by slots manufacturers.

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