David Lucchese and Marcus Prater were introduced Monday as recipients of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers’ 2026 Memorial Awards. Lucchese will receive the Jens Halle Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism and Prater will receive the Peter Mead Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Gaming Media & Communications.
AGEM created the annual awards program to recognize recipients lasting effects on gaming. AGEM formally recognizes the honorees each year at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, and this year’s awards ceremony will take place at an exclusive event during G2E on September 30.
Lucchese has more than 35 years of experience spanning sales, operations, and executive leadership in the gaming industry. Beginning with Bally, Casino Data Systems, Aristocrat and then Global Cash Access, Lucchese served in leadership roles with key gaming suppliers as the industry matured and grew.
Most recently, Lucchese served as an Executive Vice President with Everi, where he led sales and marketing initiatives, managed the strategy and development of the company’s interactive division, and played a key role in the planning and execution of Apollo Global Management’s acquisition of Everi and IGT in 2025.
Since 2015, Lucchese also served as President and Board Member of AGEM.
“Dave Lucchese is someone who epitomizes what AGEM wishes to honor with this award, through his sense of humanity in a competitive business, his willingness to go the extra mile and his longstanding dedication to the health of our industry, among his many qualities as an executive,” AGEM Board Chair Ryan Comstock, who also serves as CEO at Ainsworth Game Technology, said in a statement. “He has remained a reliable friend to countless colleagues, co-workers, competitors and customers in the gaming industry throughout his career. As we turn to this next decade of our annual AGEM Memorial Awards, I am so proud that we can celebrate the contributions and career of Dave in this small way.”
Prater is a respected gaming industry executive with nearly three decades of experience spanning casino operations and gaming manufacturing. After he began his gaming career in marketing, first for operator Ameristar and then suppliers Sigma Game and Bally Gaming, Prater transitioned from board involvement at AGEM via his role at Bally and became AGEM’s Executive Director in 2008. He helped transform AGEM into a globally recognized trade association and increase the influence of gaming suppliers worldwide until his departure in 2022.
“AGEM is not where it is today without Marcus Prater,” said AGEM President & CEO Daron Dorsey. “What started as a relatively small group of companies forming a trade association, AGEM became a global organization that found its voice through Marcus’s leadership and established long-term relationships that remain in place today. Our industry, and AGEM, are both stronger today due to seeds Marcus helped plant and grow and we will continue to benefit from those endeavors well into the future. We are so happy to recognize Marcus with this year’s Peter Mead Award.”
Previous winners of the Jens Halle Award are Len Ainsworth, Rick Meitzler, Gavin Isaacs, Tom Nieman, Robert “Bob” McMonigle, Sebastian Salat, Roy Student, Bob Manz, Steve Sutherland and Eric Fisher. Previous winners of the Peter Mead Award are Howard Stutz, Roger Gros, Frank Legato, Dave Palermo, David Orrick, Alan Feldman, Frank Fantini, Victor Rocha, Lori Nelson-Kraft and Rick Velotta.
Halle, a longtime Bally and Novomatic executive in Europe, was most recently CEO of Gauselmann Group’s Merkur Gaming before his death.
Mead was the Founder and Publisher of Casino Enterprise Management magazine.
Gaming professionals are considered for these awards based on the following criteria that aim to capture the unique attributes displayed by Halle and Mead during their storied careers:
- Jens Halle Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism: Nominees must have experience working in the global gaming supplier sector for 10 years and possess the following traits and qualities that Jens displayed throughout his working life: Professionalism; business success; international scope; attention to detail and timely follow-up; a willingness to ‘go the extra mile,’ figuratively and literally; a sense of humanity in an oft-times cutthroat business; a recognition of the importance of a handshake and a fair deal for all; and a dedication to the health of the industry as a whole.
- Peter Mead Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Gaming Media & Communications: Nominees must have experience working in the mainstream media, gaming trade press or individual gaming company PR/communications for 10 years and possess the following traits and qualities that Peter displayed throughout his working life: Quality reporting and communication with an emphasis on personal contact to generate ideas and gather information; taking risks and questioning the status quo; challenging the industry to consider new ideas; and identifying trusted partners to improve the overall product.
