Note 2 - Variable Interest and Affiliates (Detail)	1 Months Ended		12 Months Ended									12 Months Ended				12 Months Ended
	Sep. 30, 2008 USD ($)	May 31, 2007 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2011 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2010 USD ($)	May 31, 2012 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2010 HKD	Jun. 08, 2010 USD ($)	Dec. 15, 2009 USD ($)	Jun. 15, 2009 USD ($)	May 31, 2009 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Operating Costs [Member] Latin America Distributor [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Financing Under A Revolving Line Of Credit [Member] Latin America Distributor [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2010 Conversion Increments [Member] HKD	Sep. 30, 2012 Unconditional Capital Commitment to IGT Synergy [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2012 Latin America Distributor [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2010 Due September 27, 2011 [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2010 Due September 27, 2011 [Member] HKD	Sep. 30, 2010 Due May 12, 2012 [Member] USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2010 Due May 12, 2012 [Member] HKD	Sep. 30, 2011 Convertible Notes [Member] USD ($)
Variable Interest Entity, Consolidated, Carrying Amount, Assets and Liabilities, Net			$ 58,900,000	$ 69,700,000
Variable Interest Entity, Financial or Other Support, Amount												800,000	13,000,000
Revenues			2,150,700,000	1,957,000,000	1,917,200,000											4,400,000
Financing Receivable, Net																7,000,000
Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable, Net, Current			218,200,000	167,100,000												2,900,000
Notes, Loans and Financing Receivable, Net, Noncurrent			139,300,000	126,400,000												4,100,000
Available-for-sale Securities, Debt Securities		72,000,000			21,400,000	9,200,000	166,300,000							10,000,000
Proceeds from Maturities, Prepayments and Calls of Available-for-sale Securities					39,800,000
Convertible Notes Receivable Installments																	12,200,000	95,000,000	9,200,000	71,300,000
Available-for-sale Debt Securities, Amortized Cost Basis			80,700,000
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Realized Losses			20,500,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price (in Dollars per share)			$ 19.97				0.96				$ 19.97
Debt Instrument, Unamortized Discount				2,900,000				1,300,000	43,700,000	2,700,000
Receivable with Imputed Interest, Effective Yield (Interest Rate)				11.55%
Finite-Lived Intangible Assets, Remaining Amortization Period				20
Available-for-sale Securities, Amortized Cost Basis				8,700,000
Notes Receivable, Fair Value Disclosure			353,500,000	294,600,000																	8,900,000
Debt Instrument, Fair Value Disclosure				400,000	2,600,000	0
Payments to Acquire Equity Method Investments		33,600,000
Equity Method Investment, Ownership Percentage		5.00%
Other than Temporary Impairment Losses, Investments	21,400,000
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Realized Gains (Losses), Sale Proceeds				16,500,000
Available-for-sale Securities, Gross Realized Gain (Loss)				4,300,000
Income (Loss) from Equity Method Investments				(400,000)	(500,000)
Other Accrued Liabilities, Noncurrent															$ 7,100,000