NEW YORK, July 1, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Wechsler Harwood LLP today announced that it has filed a Federal Securities fraud class action on behalf of persons or entities who purchased or otherwise acquired the securities of Alliance Gaming Corp. (NYSE:AGI) "Alliance" or the "Company") from January 15, 2004 through June 7, 2004, inclusive (the "Class Period").
The action, entitled Marzano v. Alliance Gaming Corp., et al., Case No. 04-CV-0905 (JCM), is pending in the United States District Court for the District of Nevada and names as defendants, the Company, its President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director, Robert L. Miodunski, its Company's Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President, Robert L. Saxton, its Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, Steven Des Champs, and its Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel, Mark Lerner. A copy of the complaint can be obtained from the Court or can be viewed on Wechsler Harwood web site at: www.whesq.com.
The complaint charges defendants with violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. More specifically, the complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, defendants issued numerous statements to the market concerning the Company's financial condition thereby artificially inflating the price of Alliance's shares. More specifically, the Complaint alleges that the Company failed to disclose and misrepresented the following material adverse facts which were known to defendants or recklessly disregarded by them: (1) that the Company was struggling to hold shares in key markets, driven by relatively weaker content and software platform weakness; (2) that the Company's yields on participation games were contracting due to the waning popularity of flagship games, which conversely resulted higher R&D expenses for the development of traditional and central determination products; (3) that the Company was suffering from slower deployment of Wide Area Progressive games in the Nevada market due to regulatory delays, languishing approval and deployment of new game revisions in the New York Lottery market, and substantial reductions in new game orders; (4) the Company was experiencing massive integration issues related to the Sierra Design Group acquisition; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, defendants lacked a reasonable basis for their positive statements about the Company and their earnings projections.
On June 8, 2004, Alliance announced revised earnings guidance for fiscal year 2004 and 2005. News of this shocked the market. Shares of Alliance fell $5.24 or 24.50 percent on June 8, 2004, to close at $16.15.
If you purchased or otherwise acquired Alliance securities during the Class Period, you may request that the Court appoint you as lead plaintiff by August 16, 2004. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Wechsler Harwood, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action.
Wechsler Harwood has taken a leading role in many important actions on behalf of defrauded shareholders. The Wechsler Harwood website (www.whesq.com) has more information about the firm and detailed information regarding this matter. If you wish to discuss this action with us, or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights and interests with regard to the case, please contact the following:
Wechsler Harwood LLP 488 Madison Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10022 Toll Free Telephone: (877) 935-7400
Craig Lowther, Wechsler Harwood Shareholder Relations Department: clowther@whesq.com
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primezone.com/ca