Capitalizing on the growth of the physical and online casino industry and new private gaming device-testing opportunities, Las Vegas-based BMM International is expanding its operations.
The company employs about 50 people in Las Vegas for its gaming testing laboratory and technical consulting businesses, BMM spokeswoman Wendy Anderson said.
It plans to move to larger quarters and hire at least 100 additional engineering staff members.
The company has been operating in Las Vegas for about a decade. It moved its world headquarters from Melbourne, Australia, to Las Vegas in 2005.
It’s now preparing to move from South Eastern Avenue to larger quarters at 815 Pilot Road in September. The Pilot Road location near McCarran International Airport is close to certain slot machine and table game makers.
Growth in the private gaming device-testing sector is expected in part as the result of moves by Nevada regulators to privatize those functions.
And as gaming expands with physical casinos and online betting sites, BMM is anticipating greater demand for its services.
“We hope to be able to offer our testing and certification services for Nevada manufacturers at the discretion of the Nevada Gaming Control Board,” Anderson said. “We also note there is a tremendous interest amongst Nevada gaming manufacturers to utilize our services in this regard.”
BMM already tests and certifies gaming products for approval by gaming jurisdictions worldwide for brick-and-mortar and online casinos.
“As the online sector develops in the United States, we are using our expertise more and more to support this growth across our ever-increasing roster of online customers,” Anderson said.
The company said the new space for its offices and test labs will be nearly quadruple the size of its existing quarters.
“With a unique training facility for workshops, educational sessions and visiting customers, the space will also be the base for BMM’s ongoing regulatory training program,” the company said in a statement.
BMM isn’t disclosing how much money it’s investing in the expansion, but Anderson said the investment is “substantial” and that the hiring of more test engineers is under way and should continue for 18 to 24 months.
“This announcement is a landmark day for the critically important idea that true competition, as it exists in all other segments of gaming, has come to the vital area of professional services for testing and certification of regulated products,” BMM CEO Martin Storm said in a statement, alluding to competition with other test providers such as Lakewood, N.J.-based Gaming Laboratories International (GLI). Like BMM, GLI has test centers in Las Vegas and around the world.