William 'Si' Redd, 91 'King of Video Poker'

Tuesday, October 21, 2003

Solana Beach, Calif. -- William "Si" Redd, son of a Mississippi sharecropper who became a multimillionaire Nevada gaming legend known as "The King of Video Poker," died last Tuesday after an extended illness. He was 91.

Redd, founder of gaming-machine manufacturing giant International Game Technology, based in Reno, Nev., transformed traditional spinning-reel slot machines into video-screen gambling beginning in the late 1970s.

Inspired by the new video Pong amusement game, Redd and an engineer for Bally Manufacturing, where Redd worked, used the new technology to develop video keno, blackjack and poker games.

Bally, however, didn't share Redd's enthusiasm for the potential of video gaming machines.

So Redd founded IGT in 1980, which became the world's leading designer and manufacturer of slot machines and video gaming machines.

Redd sold his controlling share in IGT in 1986 and resigned from the board of directors in 1991.

But he remained active as a gaming entrepreneur. He developed Si Redd's Oasis, a 1,000-room resort hotel and casino off I-15 in Mesquite, Nev., which he sold for a reported $31 million in 2001.

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