UPDATE 2-International Game Technology profit falls 47 pct

(Adds company, analyst comments, byline, updates stock price)

By Deena Beasley

LOS ANGELES, April 17 (Reuters) - International Game Technology (IGT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday quarterly profit fell 47 percent as a slower U.S. economy resulted in less slot machine play and it recorded charges for obsolescence and bad debt.

The slot machine maker also said earnings for the next four quarters would fall short of Wall Street estimates.

Its shares were off more than 5 percent in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Net profit in its second quarter ended March 31 fell to $68.4 million, or 22 cents per share, from $128.2 million, or 38 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.

IGT said one-time charges for the quarter totaled $20 million, or 6 cents a share. But even without those charges, earnings fell short of the 34 cents a share expected by analysts, as compiled by Reuters Estimates.

"IGT's fiscal second-quarter results came in below already lowered expectations," Goldman Sachs analyst Steven Kent said in a research note.

He said lower product sales combined with lower levels of slot machine play and higher costs as well as a higher tax rate caused the earnings miss.