Who Makes Slot Machines These Days?

About a zillion years ago (OK, it was the '80s), almost every slot on the casino floor was made by Bally's. Then I remember IGT came along and started giving them some competition. Fast-forward to around 2010 and everything seemed to be WMS. Nowadays, everything seems to be a blur. Each casino seems to have hundreds of slots from dozens of manufacturers. After mergers and buyouts, WMS and Bally's don't even exist anymore. Are slots from one manufacturer better than another? Aristocrat is a name I see a lot. What can you tell us about them?

Given the merger-and-acquisition activity you rightly observe, it's doubtful that your “dozens” of slot manufacturers even exist to populate the casino floor. One would be hard-pressed to name even 12 top slot-makers.

As for whose slot is best, that depends on whom you ask. Each manufacturer says it’s their own — and would you expect any differently? The casino operators have their opinions, which they’re not in the habit of sharing. And slot players have their own distinct take on the matter, although it probably comes down to specific games, like the ever-popular Buffalo Link and Wheel of Fortune franchise (Aristocrat and IGT, respectively, in case you're interested), rather than manufacturers.

Regarding Aristocrat Technologies, it’s been around since the 1950s (1953, to be specific), but its place in history was secured in 1979, when it manufactured the first all-electronic slot, “Wild West.” It’s a subsidiary of Australian game maker Aristocrat Leisure, which is headquartered in Sydney and has outposts in Russia, South Africa, and (naturally) Las Vegas.

Its leadership has been unusually stable for the revolving-door casino industry, with CEO Trevor Coker in place since 2017. Since Aristocrat has climbed to second place in the slot industry, behind International Game Technology, this should not be surprising.

The company, founded by Len Ainsworth (whose heirs still hold a major stock position), endured major financial setbacks during the Great Recession of 2008, culminating in a $158 million loss in 2009. Nonetheless, Aristocrat continued to forge ahead, adjusting to adversity.

When the Australian appetite for “pokies” waned in the 2010s, Aristocrat snapped up Video Gaming Technologies for $1.3 billion, thereby tripling its North American market share in one fell swoop. And as mobile gaming became the rage, Aristocrat moved into that sphere too, climaxing with its 2017 acquisition of Big Fish Games at a $990 million purchase price.

Nor was Aristocrat done growing. In 2021, it made a tech play for Playtech, with the endgame of getting into online gambling. This time Aristocrat didn't succeed, as Playtech shareholders voted heavily against the would-be $3.7 billion deal.

Aristocrat rolled some of the money it had stockpiled to buy Playtech into share buybacks, thereby mollifying its own stockholders. But as of the end of last year, Aristocrat was still resolved to enter the igaming sphere, so we wait to see what it'll do next.

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Jackie Mar-20-2023

Interesting

So essentially you are saying there is only IGT and Aristocrat in the slot business.  Surely there are others.  Maybe small fish but with a casino floor presence, who are they?

A lot of slot info has been on YouTube lately with come ons of which slot is best to play and why.

But the real point is made that slots come in two flavors; which is best for the casino bottom line (typical 85% payback slots), and which is best for the players bottom line (typical poker slots at 94% or better slots with "perfect play" of course).

Let us not forget the third contender, which slots are the most entertaining.

Bottom line, slots are the cash cows of casinos, no other casino games hoover more money out of customer wallets than slots.

Hmmm!  Crazy idea! Instead of voting booths, how about slot machines where hitting a jackpot is a vote for your favorite flavor of political candidate and the money in the slots go to paying off the national debt.

O2bnVegas Mar-20-2023

Konami

Konami?  Could be just an extension of Ari or IGT?  My gambling friend looks for them and they seem to be just about everywhere we play.  

Candy

Gregory Mar-20-2023

Bakers Dozen

While there are not "dozens" of brands of machines, I can come up with at least a baker's dozen...

Ainsworth
Aruze
Everi
Konomoi
Bally's
IGT
WMS
Scientific Gaming
Aristocrat
U1
Light & Wonder
VideoPoker.com (this may be cheating because they use IGT hardware)
Incredible Technologies

I'm sure I have missed some.

A few of these companies have been absorbed into common ownership (i.e. SG, WMS, Bally's, Light & Wonder), but I am going by the brands I see on the gaming floor.  I am probably one of the few people who look at this sort of thing.  There are a few brands on the list I tend to avoid because while the games look pretty, they rarely seem to hit meaningful payouts.

rokgpsman Mar-20-2023

IGT is not the old IGT

The company known as IGT today isn't the same company as the longtime American company named IGT that was the largest slot machine manufacturer in the world. In 2014 a european gaming company (GTech) bought the American IGT company and then GTech changed it's own name to IGT because of the name recognition. But it's a completely different company with foreign ownership and management. 

Sort of like Whirlpool buying Maytag, then making washing machines in Whirlpool factories but putting the Maytag name on the machine to command a higher price and sucker buyers. Similarly, Caesars Entertainment isn't the Caesars from yesteryear, Harrah's bought Caesars in 2005 and then Harrah's changed its own name to Caesars because of the higher prestige it would bring to the Harrah's company. It's all about marketing.

jay Mar-20-2023

SGI

I believe Mikohn was bought Progressive systems International who then either got bought or merged with Scientific Gaming, who then got bought by IGT

cjen Mar-22-2023

VGT

VGT most popular slot in Oklahoma is "Hunt for Neptune's Gold" we look for the old Neptunes because the new ones since Aristocrat took over don't pay as well.

Doozey Mar-23-2023

The Best Slot

Almost any slot not made by Aruze

Question of the Day - 20 March 2023

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