It’s a time of transition for Accel Entertainment.
Founder and President Andy Rubenstein is leaving his role as CEO and assuming the role of chairman. He will be succeeded by Mark Phelan, the president of U.S. Gaming.
“This new role gives me more flexibility to leverage my local and national relationships to help Mark and the Accel team capitalize on the attractive growth opportunities in front of us, including expanding into the Chicago VGT market,” Rubenstein said during Tuesday’s fourth quarter 2025 investors call.
Accel reported revenue of $341 million for Q425, a 7.5% increase year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA grew 19% in the quarter to $56 million. Both amounts are quarterly records.
For 2025, revenue was over $1.3 billion and adjusted EBITDA was $210 million, also records.
“These results reflect the resilience of our distributed gaming model, growth from our new acquisitions, and our disciplined operating measures and capital deployment,” Rubenstein said. “We ended the year supporting more than 4,500 locations in nearly 28,000 gaming machines nationwide, demonstrating the breadth and durability of our platform.”
Rubenstein appears to be leaving the company as markets are opening up for the Illinois-based company.
Noting that the Illinois Gaming Board just started accepting applications for video gaming machines, Rubenstein expects that to be a good market for Accel.
“We’re still waiting on some of the procedures related to licensing in the city and how the cities will either regulate the gaming or facilitate individual establishments in getting it started and obtaining a license from the city,” Rubenstein said. “Some of that still needs to happen, but the fact that the IGB is accepting applications is a great start.”
Rubenstein added that it’s important to temper expectations, given the limitations of the Chicago market.
“Operationally, we have a fantastic platform to service, collect, and facilitate play at all the establishments,” Rubenstein said. “But the reality is, the actual establishments on a whole have less square footage than the establishments we operate elsewhere in the state.
“Obviously, that’s because the city has greater density, real estate’s more valuable, and the taverns and establishments aren’t allotted as much square footage. We believe that whereas in the rest of the state, many of the locations will easily accommodate six machines, there may be some constraints on certain establishments to get to those six machines. So we’re estimating a lower amount of average equipment.”
The situation at Hawthorne Park in Cicero, Illinois, might also be an opportunity for Accel’s Fairmount Park. Hawthorne filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 27, 2026, and its racing operations are now in jeopardy.
Phelan said the situation is “painful for everyone.” But if need be, Fairmount, in Collinsville, will be ready to step in.
‘The pari-mutuel horse racing market is facing significant headwinds nationally, as well as in the state of Illinois,” Phelan said. “But we’re still standing and still very much excited about the coming season, which starts in April. We’re ready to support the Illinois Racing Board in any capacity that they require to help make sure racing operations, specific employees, horsemen, and all the backside communities have a workable path going forward.”
Phelan doesn’t anticipate any sweeping changes during his tenure as CEO. He notes that he will continue to take the view that Accel, which divides its markets into three segments — core, developing, emerging –will be approached in the same way.
“They all sort of benefit from each other, and there’s all sorts of overlap in terms of content systems, which we think can drive growth in all of them,” Phelan said. “I think what we’re fundamentally trying to do is shift around business from a real logistics heavy business, to a entertainment and hospitality business that’s more nuanced, more niche and definitely more differentiated with higher margins.”
