King of the Slots: William "Si" Redd [Hardcover]

Jack Harpster (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0313382085 | ISBN-13: 978-0313382086 | Publication Date: May 5, 2010

King of the Slots: William "Si" Redd relates the fascinating, only-in-America success story of one man's improbable rise from the depths of poverty to the heights of international commerce and dazzling wealth. William Silas "Si" Redd is recognized as one of the most important and influential persons in the gaming industry over the past half century. The company he founded, International Game Technology (IGT), is the world leader in the manufacture of gaming equipment and gaming software features. His video poker is the most popular slot machine since the original debuted in 1899.

King of the Slots covers the life (1911-2003) and rags-to-riches story of the man who changed the face of the casino gaming industry. Both a business book and a biography, it introduces readers to the nation's leading gaming centers, Apollo-era technology and how it changed gambling, and the race to perfect the first video poker game. It also gives them a chance to meet the characters with whom Redd rubbed shoulders, including Howard Hughes, Mafia capo Raymond Patriarca, Arizona cowboy and pig farmer Jimmie Hughes, gaming legend Bill Harrah, and casino visionary Jay Sarno.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Harpster packs an incredible amount of detail-based on exhaustive research-into this biography, giving the reader a surprisingly vivid portrait of Redd. He is to be commended for drawing on a range of sources and melding them into a readable story. . . . Even Las Vegas and casino history buffs will learn quite a bit from King of the Slots. It's a well-researched look into the life of an important, but undeservedly lesser-known, gaming pioneer. It deserves a place in everyone's Nevada/gambling library."

-

dieiscast.com

Review

"As a longtime pinball machine and jukebox distributor, Si Redd's insight and drive had a profound effect on the evolution of modern-day casino slot machines. Through his development of video poker slots, the first million dollar jackpot, and the founding of International Game Technology -- today the world's largest manufacturer of coin-operated gaming machines -- Redd's innovations have had an unparalleled affect on gaming worldwide.

Jack Harpster's biography portrays the remarkable story of this colorful individual who was a predominant figure in the development of today's casino gaming industry."

(

Marshall Fey, grandson of Charles Fey, the inventor of the three-reel slot machine, and author of Slot Machines: America's Favorite Gaming Devices

)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 273 pages
• Publisher: Praeger (May 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313382085
• ISBN-13: 978-0313382086
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,327,839 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jack Harpster (1937 - ) was born in Burlington, Vermont, raised in Memphis, Tennessee, and received a BS degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1959. He spent the next forty-three years working on the business management side of the newspaper industry in Southern California and Las Vegas.

In 2002, following his retirement, Harpster began writing as a hobby. His first book, "John Ogden, the Pilgrim (1609 - 1682): A Man of More Than Ordinary Mark," an outgrowth of a family genealogy study, was published in 2006. He has since written six other books, all in the personal or institutional biography genre.

"Most of my books have been published by university or educational publishers," Harpster said. "But I work very hard at making them entertaining and interesting stories as well. I want readers of my books to learn something about the life I'm writing about; but I want them to have fun too."

Harpster and his wife Cathy are currently residents of Reno, Nevada.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent bio of an important casino pioneer, August 2, 2010

By 

David G. Schwartz "writer, historian" (Las Vegas, Nevada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: King of the Slots: William "Si" Redd (Hardcover)

Si Redd might have had a bigger impact on American casino gambling than anyone else in the years 1960 to 1990. Redd was a distributor for Bally's in the years when the slot-maker pioneered in the electro-mechanical market, creating machines with more entertainment value and higher jackpots. Without these machines, slots would likely have not eclipsed table games in revenue, as they did in the 1980s. Later, he founded International Game Technology (IGT), and did more to bring video poker and wide-area progressives to wide popularity on the casino floor than anyone else. Redd wasn't an engineer-he was a salesman. This doesn't diminish his important to the development of new slot technologies; casino managers needed to be convinced to give the new machines a chance, and Redd had few rivals as a salesman. He also had the vision to encourage innovation and invest in developing new ideas that others might have turned down.

In KING OF THE SLOTS, Jack Harpster traces Redd's career, from his childhood as a sharecropper's son in rural Mississippi, to his start in the coin-operated amusement business with pinball machines and later jukeboxes, to a successful career as a machine route operator and distributor, to a second career in Nevada as a slot salesman and, eventually, manufacturer. Harpster packs an incredible amount of detail-based on exhaustive research-into this biography, giving the reader a surprisingly vivid portrait of Redd. He is to be commended for drawing on a range of sources and melding them into a readable story.

Despite his renowned philanthropy, Redd wasn't all sweetness and light-as a hard-headed negotiator, he didn't always make those he did business with happy. Towards the end of his life, he had a series of regulatory reverses that may have tarnished his legacy. Similarly, Redd didn't always have the Midas touch when it came to business. It's to Harpster's credit that he doesn't minimize these negatives, and they make his biography of Redd feel more balanced and more accurate for their inclusion.

Even Las Vegas and casino history buffs will learn quite a bit from KING OF THE SLOTS. It's a well-researched look into the life of an important, but undeservedly lesser-known, gaming pioneer. It deserves a place in everyone's Nevada/gambling library.