The latest buzz about gambling in Pennsylvania is what kind of language the slot machines will speak.
Now that the Rendell administration has chosen a company to run the state's main slots computer system, slot-machine manufacturers are eager to know what computer language will be used to communicate with as many as 61,000 slot machines.
The Department of Revenue has yet to say whether the central computer will use a standard language recognized throughout the slots industry, or a proprietary language created by Rhode Island-based GTECH, which it picked to operate the computer system for an estimated $6.3 million a year.
GTECH, which also makes slot machines, said it will use any language the state chooses. Competitors say GTECH would have a competitive edge if the central computer uses only its language, or protocol. Other manufacturers would have to convert their machines to match the central computer system's protocol, a costly and time-consuming undertaking.
"Absolutely, we care what protocol they use," said Ed Rogich, spokesman for Reno, Nev.-based International Game Technology, the leading manufacturer of electronic gambling machines. "If none of us speak (the language), every company has to change to comply with it. The question is how hard it is for us to comply with it."
Rogich said he had never heard of GTECH using its protocol to create a barrier to other manufacturers and said he would be "surprised" if Pennsylvania tried to limit the central computer system to using only the company's language.
GTECH will use any language the state wants, said company spokesman Bob Vincent. GTECH's bid for the control system gave the state the option to pick the language, he said.
"We can accommodate whatever protocol they choose," Vincent said.
State officials are tight-lipped. Revenue Department spokeswoman Stephanie Weyant said details about the contract must remain secret until it is finalized. That could take about a month; Gov. Ed Rendell, his legal counsel and state Attorney General Tom Corbett still must approve the agreement.
The agency's March press release naming GTECH as the contract winner said the computer system would "use a widely accepted gaming industry protocol" and "be capable of supporting additional protocols if they become available."
The Revenue Department did not follow the normal procurement process in awarding that contract and has refused to identify the other bidders or say how it picked GTECH.
Weyant declined to provide details about the central computer system's language even though she said manufacturers are eager to find out about it.
"People in the industry, of course they want to know what the protocol is," Weyant said.
If a company uses its own language for a central control system, that forces slots manufacturers to use the same language, said Geoff Humphries, vice president and founder of Utilistar Process Automation. The Baton Rouge, La., company bid to run Pennsylvania's main slots computer.
"You want to let casinos do what they do best, which is run casinos," Humphries said. "When a state gets into bringing in a central control system that mandates what they do on the floor or throws up roadblocks, that casino is not as effective."
Another competitor, Scientific Games International, claimed this year in a Louisiana court case over a contract dispute that GTECH's proprietary language limits competition. Scientific Games also bid on Pennsylvania's central control system.
Even if GTECH were asked to use its own protocol, it could install converters to allow operators to use slots machines that speak other languages, Vincent said.
West Virginia did not have an option on protocols 10 years ago when it started licensing video lottery terminals, allowed at racetracks and in bars and restaurants, said Eliza Hall, the West Virginia Lottery's deputy director for video.
The state picked International Game Technology to run the computer system, and it used a language for the central system that is no longer widely used.
Now that the state wants to update the main computer, it either has to find someone to accommodate the old language or tell operators they must upgrade their slot machines for a new one, Hall said.
West Virginia officials are not so secretive about the companies bidding to replace the state's central control system. Hall said three of them -- GTECH, Scientific Games and Multimedia Games -- submitted bids.
"Every manufacturer probably has told, and would tell, Pennsylvania to go toward (a common protocol), assuming that's available to start out with," Hall said.
That kind of universal protocol could be ready by the end of the year.
The Gaming Standards Association -- an industry consortium that includes GTECH, International Game Technology and 68 other companies -- has been working for seven years to reach a compromise language for central systems and gambling machines.
A common language would "put everyone on the same level" so any manufacturer could supply slot machines for any central control system, said Peter DeRaedt, the association's president.