Coventry lottery plant to close, lay off 44 workers after $6.4 billion gaming company merger

A plant that makes lottery ticket vending machines will be closing its doors and laying off 44 employees following the merger of two gaming companies.

Rhode Island-based GTECH and International Game Technology completed a $6.4-billion merger earlier this month.

The Providence Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1K45fnY ) workers were notified Tuesday that the Coventry plant would be closing by the end of the year.

The company says manufacturing operations will now be consolidated at a facility in Reno, Nevada. Angela Wiczek, a company spokeswoman, says some employees will be offered transfers to Nevada, but the majority will lose their jobs.

About three dozen other workers at the closing plant will remain with the company and be relocated to an existing manufacturing center in West Greenwich.

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Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.providencejournal.com