IGT officials may have a tough sell convincing its best customers that what’s good for the slot manufacturing giant is also good for the rest of the casino industry.

The grumbling followed IGT’s announcement it has agreed to pay up to $500 million for Double Down Interactive, Inc. (DDI) the online game developer whose DoubleDown Casino is a popular Facebook feature.

Blame it all on a rapidly changing business and social environment.

IGT strategists are intrigued by the prospects of profits in the beckoning future of online gaming, a business that appears to have no place to go except up…way up. This could put IGT in competition with casino companies that now account for a good portion of its annual slot machine sales.

Three casino industry execs who shared their thoughts on the condition they not be identified since they are not spokesmen for their respective interests wondered if International Game Technology CEO Patti Hart had misplaced her sense of history.

Did she and other IGT strategists not recall the rough water IGT encountered years ago when it was running a couple small casinos and a slot route and more than one customer wanted to know if IGT was satisfied with selling games or did it want to compete in the casino business?

The company long ago digested the essence of such complaints and sold off those assets to focus on its "core business."

"I think Patti may be buying into more trouble than she realizes with this Double Down deal," one of my industry friends confided as he pondered the implications of IGT’s purchase of one of the giants in the fast-growing world of social media where free games can quickly convert to cash play once the necessary regulations are in place.

Caesars Entertainment officials were not available for comment, but Caesars is almost certainly one of the casino companies anxious to have some clarifying talks with IGT if, indeed, it has not already done so. Back when Caesars was known as Harrah’s it was often quick to criticize IGT’s "arrogance" on matters such as its policy of leasing rather than selling many of its most popular games.

Also, the company officials of the former Mandalay Resorts, which was once Circus Circus Enterprises and is now owned by Mirage Resorts, were often far from happy about IGT strategies.

Hart’s recent conference call with analysts included signs she may be well aware of the risk IGT is taking, but that the time for serious thoughts about a revamped approach to business has arrived.

The strategies that have shaped the company’s "core business," that is, the design, manufacture and placement of casino games "is being redefined" by the many political and business influences trying to find profitable niches in the Interactive gaming business.

She said, "Manufacturers and distributors are sorting through the roles they want for themselves in the future world of gaming…We view the Double Down transaction as one more distribution channel for our content."

That kind of statement sounds reasonable but in the "future world" that appears to be taking shape, the biggest names in the bricks and mortar casino business – IGT’s biggest customers – are going to be competing with each other for "shelf space" in the "future world" of interactive gaming.

Hart pressed her argument. "We believe this is a responsible transaction that closely aligns new forms of gaming with our core business…Convergence (the blending of different gaming environments) is becoming a reality and our participation is no longer optional."

What it all means will not be known until Internet poker (in the U.S.) begins to spread as a result of either congressional action or state and regional compacts.

Caesars and MGM Resorts will be looking to market their own branded Internet gaming products. Caesars has its World Series of Poker brand, which is already generating Internet action in Europe and the UK. MGM will be doing its own thing, probably a tie-in with the World Poker Tour.

There will also be others.

It’s not difficult to imagine a sophisticated Indian tribe, such as the Florida Seminoles who own the rights to the Hard Rock brand, developing a free-play poker site of some sort that could easily be converted to cash play once regulations are in place.

Will any or all of these companies continue to buy the bulk of their casino games from a company they may see as competition in the online gaming business?

Perhaps Hart can convince the decision makers at each of these companies that they are all in this new world of gaming together and rapidly changing times require new approaches to business.

Plans continue developing at all levels as executives ponder the shape of things to come in the wake of the Department of Justice’s December decision that frees states to use the Internet as they never have before.

When and where will this happen? "There are probably as many opinions about this as there are lawyers reading the Department’s (decision) letter," a senior gaming executive confided, adding with a chuckle, "We’ll all just have to stay tuned."