HELENA (AP) -- Two Nevada companies, sued by Montana for allegedly failing to provide the state with an automated monitoring system for thousands of video gambling machines, have filed for bankruptcy.

Gamet Technology Inc. and Lodging & Gaming Systems Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in Nevada on Dec. 29.

Gene Huntington, head of the Montana Gambling Control Division, said Tuesday the filing puts on hold the state's lawsuit seeking to recover $900,000 paid to the companies to develop and install the network.

However, he said the state will ask the bankruptcy judge to allow the trial, already set for May, to proceed.

Huntington said Montana wants to establish itself as a creditor in the bankruptcy proceeding. To do that, the state either has to win its suit or persuade company officials to designate Montana as a creditor without going through a trial, he explained.

Huntington said the companies may take the latter approach, because a trial would delay the bankruptcy case.

The state Justice Department hired LGS in 2000 to create the computer system that would track revenue and taxes from more than 10,000 video poker and keno machines. But gambling regulators said the company missed deadlines and insisted on a system that wouldn't communicate with the Montana machines.

The state terminated the contract in 2001 and sued the company to get back its payments and for additional unspecified damages. The companies responded with suits of their own, claiming Montana improperly ended the contract.