They don't really come any bigger than IGT. International Game Technology boasts around half the slot machines in US casinos, and their online output is impressive enough to suggest the developer isn't just a land-based player. In fact, there are few slots manufacturers around today that have so completely cornered both live and online markets.

The slots world was shocked by the firm's takeover by GTECH in 2014 but it did nothing to change the reputation of a firm that's undergone many alterations and takeovers but has remained a major player across the world.

From popular land-based slots (some times called Vegas Slots) to the biggest progressives around, and online slots that keep the welcome bonus hunter occupied, things don't look like slowing down anytime soon for IGT.

About IGT

IGT started out life as A-1 Supply, developing video poker and blackjack games, and slot machines. Founder William "Si" Redd changed the name to SIRCOMA (an abbreviation of Si Redd Coin Machines) and went public as International Game Technology in 1981.

Incredibly, sales of the firm's machines rose from a few million bucks in 1975 to over $60 million just seven years later, IGT boasting about 90 percent of the video gaming market in Nevada.

It wasn't until 1986 that IGT's technological revolutions sent the company into the stratosphere.

The firm developed the Player's Edge Video Poker machine as well as one of the first microprocessor-operated machines - the S-Slot - while also investing in lottery ticket terminals in some US states.

By the late 1980s, IGT controlled the market share and celebrated its position by introducing the Megacbucks slot machine in 1987. The world's first progressive jackpot slot allowed players to connect across networks and multiple casinos to create some truly 'mega' jackpot prizses.

In the late 1990s, IGT focused its attentions on the British market with a buyout of Barcrest Gaming, in one fell swoop snapping up the giant of the US fruit machine market.

The 2005 acquisition of WagerWorks provided IGT with the platform it needed for the growing online slots market. It enabled the US player to bring a lot of its popular land-based slots to the online casino world.

But amid an era of takeovers and mergers, it was the giant's acquisition by Italian tech firm GTECH in 2014 that really caught the attention. The sale went through for $6.4 billion (made up of $4.7 billion cash and $1.7 billion of debt).

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