Australian slot machine supplier Ainsworth Game Technology (AGT) on Friday said the Forest County Potawatomi Gaming Commission in Wisconsin has renewed its license and found no adverse impact to its regulatory suitability stemming from an investigation into its parent company Novomatic in Austria.
The supplier provided the update via an ASX filing, following a report by CDC Gaming that revealed the Commission had launched a suitability review into AGT’s US subsidiary Ainsworth Game Technology Inc. (Ainsworth US). CDC Gaming understands that review was launched in response to information provided by Kjerulf Ainsworth, AGT’s second largest shareholder, in relation to an ongoing shareholder dispute between Novomatic and him.
In its ASX filing, AGT said it “regularly works cooperatively and collaboratively with gaming regulators to respond to any questions in the ordinary course.” It added that, having received all requested documentation from AGT, the Commission found Ainsworth US to have “fully complied with all requests” and that “the responses provided by AGT US were complete, timely, and sufficient to address all concerns outlined in the review.”
As such, the Commission renewed the license of Ainsworth US on 28 May, finding that “there is no adverse impact to the regulatory suitability of [Ainsworth US] within this jurisdiction.”
Despite the positive licensing result in Wisconsin, AGT revealed in the same ASX filing on Friday that its chairman Danny Gladstone and company Secretary Mark Ludski had submitted their resignations, effective immediately, in response to recent media reports, which they confirmed at last week’s annual general meeting, that they had received personal payments totaling a combined AU$15 million (US$10.6 million) from company founder Len Ainsworth in 2018 after he sold his controlling stake to Novomatic.
“Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Ludski have decided it is in the best interests of AGT for them to resign, so that AGT can move past these distracting complaints in order to focus on the execution of its strategic priorities,” the company said in the filing.
The dispute between Novomatic and Kjerulf Ainsworth has seen both lift their shareholdings in recent months, with Novomatic now holding 67.4% of issued share capital, up from 52.9% a year ago, and Kjerulf Ainsworth up to 9.6%.
