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While PDS Gaming can provide needed funding for gaming operators looking to upgrade equipment, some manufacturers of specialized casino products actually offer in-house financing options for their customers. One such operation is Nevada-based YESCO Custom Electric Signs.

Founded by Thomas Young in 1920, YESCO created the first large-scale spectacular sign in Las Vegas for the Boulder Club in 1931 and went on to provide signs for many iconic Las Vegas gaming properties, a trend that continues to this day with recent product placements at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, Aria Resort & Casino and The Linq Hotel.

Electronic LED displays, lighting retro-fits, custom fabrication, slot machine signage, wayfinding, area lighting and programmable architectural lightning are all areas where YESCO has made significant contributions to gaming customers in Nevada and throughout North America.

Another area where YESCO has been a pioneer is in offering financial services to its signage customers. “Beginning in the 1920s, YESCO recognized the need for alternative sources of financing for sign projects,” said Tony Hull, president of YESCO Financial Solutions. “Our customers often needed help beyond every day lenders for one-of-a-kind sign projects. In combination with our maintenance programs, YESCO customers are able to borrow money from an inhouse finance company to fund their custom sign or lighting projects. This financing option allows the customer to preserve precious liquidity, maintain capacity on lines of credit, eliminate the fluctuating costs of service repairs, and reap the revenue generating benefits of their new signage while re-paying YESCO over time.”

“Since arranging financing can be cumbersome and time consuming we have been successful in simplifying and streamlining the credit approval process,” Hull added.

According to Hull, YESCO offers two main financing products. The first is a capital lease with a guaranteed residual. With this product, YESCO maintains the sign over the life of the agreement—inserting the signage into its regular patrol program and ensuring that any outages are repaired by dedicated technicians. At the end of the lease term, ownership transfers to the customer after the residual payments are made.

The second is a tax lease where the ownership of the sign remains with YESCO perpetually. The customer pays rent monthly for the right to use the sign and all obligations of ownership are retained by YESCO. This second option is attractive for customers that like to take advantage of digital signs or message centers that may experience some technological obsolescence in the next 7-10 years. At the end of the lease term they can renew the agreement keeping the signage as-is or upgrade to a newer technology while typically keeping the payment the same. As owner of the signage, YESCO also maintains the product in good, working condition, identifying outage and making repairs as needed.

YESCO employs a dedicated team of finance professionals that understands the sign and lighting industry and provides direct financing using its own capital for the benefit of credit worthy customers. The company views these relationships as partnerships—they design and build the product, install and stand behind it such that they’re willing to use their own money to finance it over a 3-5 year term.
“When I ask some of our best gaming customers why they choose to finance their projects through YESCO, the answer is typically, ‘One, because it’s so easy to work with YESCO. Two, it allows us to keep dry powder for our other capital needs,’” Hull said.

REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM CASINO JOURNAL, COPYRIGHT 2016, CASINOJOURNAL.COM
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