Between providing attendees with information on electronic table games, social casino apps and even Washington, D.C., politics, David Lopez wove in some of the core values that the AGS team has worked to instill since he joined the company in 2014.
That includes traits such as flexibility, emphasis on customer service and a sense of playfulness.
“We don’t take ourselves awfully seriously but we do obsess over things,” he said.
AGS, which Lopez took over in 2014, presented a two-day conference for casino gaming operations executives across the country this week, branded GameON, at the MGM National Harbor in Washington, D.C.
AGS has gained momentum in recent years, expanding beyond supplying Class II games in Oklahoma to providing Class III games and even table game products and social casino apps.
“We’ve grown into a diverse gaming manufacturer over the past three years – both in terms of product categories and content within those categories,” Lopez said.
The company originally was known as American Gaming Systems but was rebranded AGS after being purchased in 2013 by funds affiliated with Apollo. Since then, AGS itself has made $425 million in acquisitions, including approximately $375 million for Cadillac Jack. That acquisition helped create the momentum of growth in the market and increased the company’s geographic footprint.
The company has grown from about 9,000 slot units placed in North American in 2014, to 20,000 units after acquiring Cadillac Jack in 2015. AGS picked up more than 1,000 in 2016, with more than 21,000 units installed currently. AGS has also ventured into table games.
“In December 2013, we had no table game products,” Lopez said, so they soon formed a table games division. Now the company has more than 25 table game products in their portfolio with more than 1,600 installs.
The company has also grown from 127 licenses in 2012 to 243 in 2016, nearly doubling the amount of markets their products are available in.
“Expanding our reach has been a big commitment from our company and from our ownership,” he said.
Lopez pointed to an emphasis on research and development, with 25 R&D employees hired in the past year, with their main development center based in Atlanta.
“A large part of our cash flow goes back into the company to make us stronger, and that means much goes right back to R&D,” he said. “It’s impressive to look at where we’ve come from in the past two years.”
Top-performing games include Golden Wins, Jade Wins, Buffalo Jackpots, Longhorn Jackpots and Fu Nan Fu Nu.
The company is in the midst of rolling out slot machines featuring the company’s new Orion cabinet. Nearly 500 LED lights surround its 42-inch touchscreen LCD monitor, giving the effect that Orion floats in an immersive experience. Early reports show the machines doing more than double the house average of other machines.
On the table games side, the company is introducing a bonus spin virtual wheel, which table game operators can employ to increase excitement by adding unique bonus opportunities to table games play. The wheels can be customized so casinos can offer prizes (dinners, concert tickets, etc.) from their venue.
The company also has a single-deck poker shuffler, the Dex S, which is being offered as an alternative to more expensive shufflers.
Meanwhile, the GameON conference emphasized providing a variety of information to attendees. SVP of Table Products John Hemberger, led a session on the dynamics of electronic table games. AGS Interactive leader Bryan Bennett led a conversation on the linkage between social gaming apps and the players’ resultant visit to the connected casino. And Politico Founder Mike Allen, known as “The Man Washington Wakes Up To,” provided a down-the-middle analysis on President Trump and the mindset of his supporters.
On Thursday, Lopez offered up popular sayings inside the company, including: “Hope is not a plan;” “It’s just hard work;” and Bruce Lee’s, “Be like water.”
“We use ‘Be like water’ because with an organization that’s growing fast, that’s what you have to be like,” he said.
