Kurt Gissane, CRO at Aristocrat Gaming
Some credit 19th century British artist and poet John Ruskin with coining the common business phrase “you get what you paid for”. Of course, that saying is almost 200 years old, and Ruskin probably never anticipated Amazon, Costco or the internet.
But in our casino world, that credo often still applies. According to the financial services firm Morningstar, in 2024 Aristocrat Gaming invested more than $500 AUD[1] million in research and development (R&D). Not only is that impressive; they noted it is $100 million more than their nearest competitor.
“It’s all about our investment back into R&D,” says Kurt Gissane, chief revenue officer at Aristocrat Gaming. “We’re very proud that we have the highest percentage of top line revenue going back into research and development to build these great games. We have several amazing studios, so it’s been just a phenomenal team that that have built these great games for us.”
That’s not just hyperbole. In the timely March 2025 Eilers & Krejcik Gaming survey that was released just before the recent Indian Gaming Association’s Tradeshow & Convention at the beginning of the month, Aristocrat dominated several key categories. In the popular and lucrative Premium Leased Video Reel segment, Aristocrat grabbed eight of the top 10 spots with dominant titles like “Lightning Link” and “Dollar Storm”. Their newest premium game, “Phoenix Link,” launched around G2E last fall, has already claimed the #2 spot just behind their long-time leader “Dragon Link”.
While IGT, and especially Light & Wonder, have made some impressive gains in the Core category of non-premium games for sale, Aristocrat has continued to score strongly there as well. This is the category that began their climb to #1 years ago. Two titles in particular led that charge: “Buffalo” and “Cash Express”. That latter game debuted with the “Hyperlink” mechanic which continues to work well today. At the IGA show, the company previewed a new “Cash Express Legend” and another variant called “Buffalo Quad Power” (both pictured).
Gissane said, “I still think our legacy IP [intellectual property or brand(s)] resonates with players. As we’ve seen with ‘Cash Express,’ as we’ve seen with ‘Hyperlink’, and as we’ve seen with ‘Buffalo’ for multiple generations. Now, do I think legacy products resonate? Definitely yes.”
In addition to several other new themes, Aristocrat previewed their latest variant of “The Baron” cabinet with a Portrait version. The parent line launched just a few months ago with an Upright model that has already nabbed the #1 spot in the EKG cabinet surveys, just ahead of their earlier MarsX Upright which remains at #2.
However, Light & Wonder’s new “Cosmic” cabinet now has the top spot in the Portrait segment with Aristocrat’s older MarsX Portrait model in fifth place. However, it is worth noting that there are nearly three times more of the MarsX Portrait cabinets on floors than any other portrait competitor.
The new Baron Portrait (pictured) could put Aristocrat Gaming back on top in that category. It features a 43-inch C-shaped main monitor (Ultra Hi-Def 4K), five channel audio and an integrated candle (with ceiling height restrictions in many locations this could be popular). While no release date was announced at the IGA show, Gissane said, “We’re due to launch soon.”
There are a few categories that Aristocrat doesn’t rule. Their RELM mechanical reel started strong, but it has now dropped behind L&W, AGS, Everi, Aruze and IGT. Their bar top video poker cabinet has seen some success in the route business, and it is in the #2 spot. However, it is way, way behind leader IGT (the undisputed king of video poker). They also trail IGT and others in the Wide Area Progressive premium category. Lastly, they are not really a player in the Electronic Table Games (ETG) segment at this time.
The good news for Aristocrat is that those four categories combined represent less than a quarter of the machines on casino floors today. But there is another important category that Aristocrat does dominate: Class Two gaming machines.
Class Two applies only to Native American casino operators. They were electronic games based on Bingo and were created by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Importantly, that law generally exempted Class Two products from state taxes. That would seem like a huge advantage, but it wasn’t for many years.
In October of 2014, Aristocrat purchased VGT, the leading Class Two provider. Early on, C2 machines were mainly popular only where C3 machines had been illegal. The reason was that older C2 games simply didn’t play as well as the “Nevada-style” C3 machines. They were slow and confusing for many players.
Today, that has changed. Most players today would have a hard time distinguishing between a C2 and a C3 machine. In the Class Two category of the recent EKG surveys, Aristocrat has the top eight, and nine of the top 10 game titles.
While their popularity began in historical locations like Oklahoma and Florida, that could be changing as Native American operations in California and across the country look for ways to increase their profit margins. A machine that performs as well as a C3 game (but with no state taxes) is becoming more and more attractive. It also allows casinos with legal limits on the number of C3 machines they can install to go beyond those restrictions by adding C2 games.
In the traditional Oklahoma markets, the VGT brand is front and center on the machines with the video bingo cards displayed on the screen along with the reel symbols. However, elsewhere the Aristocrat brand is on the C2 games, and the bingo cards are hidden in the background. For all practical purposes, as cited earlier, the games appear to play like standard C3 slot machines.
VGT president James Starr said, “’The Hunt for Neptune’s Gold’ and then ‘Mr. Money Bags’ were #1 over the last couple years. But our new ‘Hot Red Rudy Rakes in Riches’ [pictured] just knocked off ‘Mr. Money Bags’ as a new #1 game. These games are ‘Neptune’s’ underneath with variations of the base game mechanic.”
Again, the key to both their C3 and C2 success certainly comes from their commitment to R&D spending. As Gissane added, “It’s hard to get to #1, but it’s even harder to keep it when people are chasing you. So, if you don’t reinvest, you’re not going to be able to produce the great quality of games across both our premium and our core segment.”
The latest May/June 2025 edition of Consumer Reports magazine has a feature article titled, “Do You Need To Pay More For Great Stuff?” For Aristocrat, that answer is also a definite “Yes.” And it seems to be proof that you do ‘get what you pay for’.
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[1] As of this writing, $500 Australian dollars (AUD) are equivalent to about $303 US dollars
