DigiDeal becomes player in sales

Mike Kuhn, who remembers the days DigiDeal could not make payroll, Monday leaned on a golden shovel at a groundbreaking for the Spokane Valley company’s 42,000-square-foot, $3 million headquarters.

DigiDeal last year sold 300 of its electronic gaming tables, as many as it did during its first decade in business, Kuhn said, and will likely double that total again this year. He said he expects DigiDeal and its majority owner, International Game Technology, will sell 1,000 gaming tables annually.

Kuhn co-founded DigiDeal in 1996, and he remains the company’s chief executive officer. As recently as 18 months ago, he said, DigiDeal had fewer than a dozen employees. Now they number 42, and Kuhn said he is looking for engineers, designers and others who would bring staff to 50 by the end of the year.

“We are always hiring,” he said.

Kuhn said DigiDeal’s strength is its intellectual property. From two patents shortly after its founding, the total has grown to 30, with as many as 15 in progress. Even the dragon-motif felt for the company’s Pai Gow game is proprietary, he said.

Besides Pai Gow, DigiDeal games imitate blackjack, Texas Hold’em and several other card and dice games. Kuhn said DigiDeal and IGT work together selecting games that can be digitalized.

The games can feature combinations of electronic cards or dice cups, real or electronic chips, a live dealer or no dealer.

DigiDeal develops the games and builds prototypes, then hands the product over to IGT for manufacturing and sales. The companies split the revenues 50-50, Kuhn said, adding that DigiDeal is exploring game development with other companies as well.

“We are the world leaders in electronic table gaming, and we hope to stay that way many years into the future,” he said.

Gary Baker, of Baker Construction, said work on the building at 5123 E. Third Ave., which is visible from Interstate 90, should be completed by the end of the year.