UPDATE 3-Slot-machine maker Int'l Game profit beats Street

* Net profit 22 cents/share; Wall Street view 18 cents

* Revenue down 23 percent at $522.1 million.

* Shares rise 11.4 percent (Adds company comment, analyst comment, stock price, byline)

By Deepa Seetharaman and Deena Beasley

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Reuters) - Slot-machine maker International Game Technology (IGT.N) posted a 39 percent drop in quarterly profit on Thursday, but the results were better than expected and its shares rose 11.4 percent.

IGT, whose recession-battered casino customers continued to put off orders, said it believes business has bottomed out.

Net income fell to $66.3 million, or 22 cents a share, in the third quarter, ended June 30, from $108.3 million, or 35 cents a share, a year earlier.

The results surpassed the analysts' average forecast of 18 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

Revenue fell 23 percent to $522.1 million, also topping the average Wall Street forecast of $515.4 million

The results underscored an improved cost structure and "decent" unit sales growth, said JPMorgan analyst Joseph Greff.

Chief Executive Patti Hart lowered the upper end of IGT's full-year 2009 outlook to between 75 cents and 80 cents a share from the previous estimate of 75 cents to 85 cents. Analysts have projected a full-year profit of 77 cents a share.

"Today's strong results reinforce our view that new CEO Patti Hart is aggressively leading IGT's turnaround," Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent said in a research note.

Stock prices for slot machine makers have been on a upward trajectory following recent approvals of expanded gambling in Ohio and Illinois and expectations that other budget-strapped U.S. states will follow.

Shares of IGT, which reached a 52-week high of $25.86 exactly a year ago, were up $2.00 at $19.49 on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)