Posted on 04/15/2005 9:04:30 AM PDT by calcowgirl
SACRAMENTO – A year after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger agreed to give a group of American Indian tribes unlimited gaming, slot machines bearing the likeness of his most famous movie character have started to arrive in California.
The curious sequence of events raised some eyebrows within the gambling industry, but the governor's aides say he is not getting any of the action from the Terminator slots.
The machines, a bank of which were recently installed at the Viejas casino in east San Diego County, are the latest in a line that slot-giant International Game Technology has been developing for several years.
An earlier version was pulled and redesigned after Schwarzenegger sued, claiming his image and voice had been used without permission. Those machines had been developed only for international distribution, said Ed Rogich, vice president of marketing for IGT.
Terminator slots produced for the U.S. market were introduced last April in Missouri, but none were installed in California casinos until December. That machine had limited success and only about 30 were shipped to California, Rogich said.
The latest Terminator is a five-reel video slot, Rogich said.
"I don't have details on how many orders we've got ... but from what I hear, it's doing pretty good," he said.
Viejas has 10 of the new Terminators, ranging from penny to nickel machines. The casino has been promoting the slots with T-shirts that caught the eye of a local industry veteran.
"What are the royalties the governor is getting from that?" he asked, requesting anonymity.
The governor is not getting any cut from the licensing arrangement for the Terminator slots, according to his aides and IGT's Rogich.
"There are no authorized slot machines that utilize copyrights that the governor controls," said Vince Sollitto, Schwarzenegger's deputy press secretary.
The subject remains sensitive to IGT, which agreed to a confidential settlement of Schwarzenegger's lawsuit.
"Arnold is in no way associated with the Terminator games that were actually sold," Rogich said. "There is no image. We pay no money to Arnold. We are licensing through (a third) party that has the rights to the movie."
The Terminator is one of hundreds of games IGT offers and, although it has performed well recently in Japan, it is not among the company's best sellers, Rogich said.
At Viejas, one of the tribes that negotiated a new deal for unlimited slots, a spokeswoman said the tribe gave no thought to the machines' association with the governor.
"It was just one of the new products out," said Nikki Symington. "We'll put them out there and leave it to the public to decide whether they like them or not."
Sollitto, the governor's spokesman, noted that Viejas and the other tribes that signed new compacts last year received expanded gaming rights in exchange for a larger share of casino profits for the state.
"Unlike the governor," Sollitto said, "the folks who are getting a piece of the action on these machines are the people of California, since the governor has negotiated finally a fair contribution of Indian gaming revenue."
Funny how the tribes sided with those two losers (Bustamoney and McClintokook) in the recall, and here the man they tried to defeat is helping put money in their tee pees.
(snip)
BUSINESS HOLDINGS
But the report shows the heart of Schwarzenegger's financial empire is Oak Productions, a Santa Monica entertainment concern.
Schwarzenegger, who in his bodybuilding days was styled the "Austrian Oak," set up the firm in 1977, according to state records. It produced "Last Action Hero," the 1993 comedy and one of only a handful of Schwarzenegger films that have bombed. It's also the vehicle through which Schwarzenegger is paid for his movie roles -- from Conan the Barbarian to the cyborg Terminator -- and for video game and comic book spin-offs and licensing arrangements.
Schwarzenegger owns a stake of more than $1 million in the firm: Through it, he draws income from a long list of entertainment concerns, including 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, MGM-United Artists, Walt Disney, DC Comics and video game manufacturer International Game Technology.
~loud sound: Democrat skulls exploding all over Sacramento~
Cow, am I correct in seeing that you seem to have an issue that Arnold was an investor in IGT.
That comment is kinda racist.
Selective outrage! Not surprising.
It amuses me that you accuse anti-illegal immigration people of being racist towards Mexicans. Most of the Mexicans that Vicente exports are of Native American descent. Being that you like to make wisecracks about Native Americans, I must assume that you have a hatred towards the brown folks pouring in over the border. I don't think Rush would say you're right on this one. :-(
It's nice to see you sticking up for Brown folks. Is this just a fluke or can we expect your passion for diversity to spread to the other members of your clan?
I like Mexicans. Especially the chicks. As for my "clan" I know not of what you speak. The only clan I belong to is the "Top 10 percentile of good looking FReepers clique".
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