Aristocrat Leisure

Aristocrat Leisure Limited is an Australian gambling machine manufacturer, which has its administrative centre in the Sydney suburb of North Ryde, although the majority of its research and development is also done at its North Ryde site. It has marketing and development offices in South Africa, Russia and the United States.

Aristocrat Leisure Limited
Public company
Traded asASX: ALL
IndustryGambling
Headquarters
Sydney
,
Australia
Key people
Trevor Croker, CEO
Revenue A$4,397.4 million (2019)
A$1,162.5 million (2019)
A$698.8 million (2019)
Number of employees
6400+
Subsidiaries
Websitehttps://www.aristocrat.com/

Aristocrat is the largest gambling machine manufacturer in Australia, and one of the largest manufacturers of slot machines in the world, currently second only to International Game Technology.

History

The company produced its first machine in 1953, and was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1996. The company was founded by Len Ainsworth, whose family[1] maintains a substantial stake in the company, but is now chairman of a different gaming company, Ainsworth Game Technology. Aristocrat is licensed to distribute slot machines and other gaming products in over 200 jurisdictions (note that many countries, such as Australia, have a number of different gaming-licence jurisdictions).

Aristocrat's CEO blamed the US subprime mortgage crisis for poor financial results in 2008,[2] despite the fact that competing companies have experienced record growth[3] in the same time period. As a result of the expected drop in revenue, the CEO enacted sweeping budget cuts, including large-scale retrenchments of staff from all areas of the business.[4] The company again faced difficult market conditions in 2009 with its full year resulting in a net loss of $157.8 million.[5]

In 2011, the company reached an agreement with the AGLC to provide equipment and games for Alberta's video lottery terminal network.[6]

In July 2014 Aristocrat agreed to buy Video Gaming Technologies for about $1.3 billion to triple its North American business amid falling profit in Australia.[7] On August 10, 2017, it acquired mobile game developer Plarium for $500 million to enter into mobile gaming.[8] On November 30, 2017, it acquired mobile game developer Big Fish Games for US$990 million.[9]

Since March 2017, the CEO has been Trevor Croker, formerly executive vice president for global products, who succeeded Jamie Odell.[10][11]

In July 2019, Aristocrat sued Ainsworth, alleging that they had used proprietary code and media assets leaked by a former Aristocrat employee to produce a clone of its popular Lightning Link games.[12][13]

Products and partnerships

Aside from spinning reel slot machines, the company has interests in gambling systems (computerised network systems that manage slot machines), computerised card game simulations, electronic table games and linked jackpot systems (such as the patented Hyperlink systems). The company has developed the Reel Power system, where players buy reels instead of lines, win combinations in the standard configuration.

Aristocrat's most prominent products have been game setups which place large progressive jackpots over a number of machines, including its Lightning Link series. The series has seen substantial popularity, to the point that Aristocrat has licensed branded areas at several North American casinos dedicated exclusively to the machines.[14][13][12][15]

The company has a number of distribution partnerships, including Sammy Corporation in Japan.

In the U.S., Artistocrat has licensed titles to Grand Vision Gaming of Montana for use on video lottery terminals.[16]

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References
  1. "RICH PICKINGS: Len Ainsworth". Business Spectator. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  2. "Aristocrat feels pain in US". Fairfax Digital. 30 April 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  3. "Bally Technologies, Inc. Announces Record Earnings for Third Quarter Fiscal 2008 on Record Revenues of $233 Million". The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. 12 May 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  4. "CEO & CFO Presentation, Macquarie conference". asx.com.au. 7 May 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
  5. "CEO and CFO Presentation Script - Full Year Results 2009" (PDF). 23 February 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  6. "Canadian lotteries infuse Nevada's slot industry with sales opportunities". Las Vegas Review-Journal. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
  7. "Aristocrat to Buy Video Gaming for $1.3 Billion". 7 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  8. "Plarium acquired in $500 million deal". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 8 November 2017.
  9. "Kentucky Derby operator Churchill Downs selling Big Fish Games for $990M, just three years after initial purchase". 29 November 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  10. "Trevor Croker named chief executive of Aristocrat Leisure". Gaming Intelligence. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  11. 8 March 2017 at 10:00 PM (8 March 2017). "Aristocrat CEO Trevor Croker flogs shares, pockets $2m to manage 'tax liabilities'". afr.com. Retrieved 27 April 2017.
  12. Begley, Patrick (15 July 2018). "'A little bit of magic': The pokie that took over the world". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  13. Simmons, Author: David. "Pokies giants Ainsworth and Aristocrat to duke it out in the Federal Court". Business News Australia. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  14. Hatch, Patrick (5 July 2019). "Pokies maker says rival had access to secret maths codes for slot machine". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  15. "WinStar World Casino and Resort inaugurates Lightning Link Lounge". World Casino News. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2019.
  16. "Grand Vision Gaming renews VLT cross-licensing deal with Aristocrat". Gaming Intelligence. Retrieved 2 December 2019.
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