Small slot suppliers turn to industry veterans to crack the slot market.
Large suppliers have long dominated the market for slot machines, and likely will continue to do so. However, over the past decade, there have been a few smaller companies that have made their mark, nabbing significant market share and establishing themselves as viable long-term players.
The Eilers-Fantini slot performance reports invariably list top earners from Aristocrat, IGT, Light & Wonder and Konami. But it’s no longer unusual to see a supplier like Everi or AGS crack those top-performance lists. And the emergence of smaller suppliers is by no means finished.
There’s a definite trend on the supplier side of the industry pointing to up-and-coming slot suppliers, and the story is similar for all of them: The way to crack the slot market is by collecting veteran talent-game developers, sales and marketing executives, finance executives and others, normally from those established large suppliers. The story of a well-established executive from a large slot supplier helping small companies increase their footprint (often after waiting out a non-compete) is no longer new.
We’re profiling five examples of up-and-coming suppliers in the North American slot market making their way with the help of veteran talent. This month, we will focus on Bluberi Gaming and Eclipse Gaming Systems. Next month, we will profile Gaming Arts, Next Gaming and Zitro USA.
Bluberi Gaming
The story of Bluberi Gaming is not new in and of itself. For nearly 30 years, the company was a successful supplier of Class II slot games based in Drummondville, Quebec. Its story changed in a big way, though, in January 2020 when Andrew Burke, formerly senior vice president, slot products for AGS, became Bluberi’s CEO.
AGS had been the exclusive distributor for the Canadian company’s games, but Burke had other ideas-namely, establishing a U.S. footprint for the company in Class III markets.
“Bluberi has been in business for about 30 years, so the company had an experienced game development and engineering team already in place, with a rich history of success,” Burke said. “At the same time, the business was still small, and there are not a lot of small platform companies like Bluberi left in this industry. I was very excited about the ability to make a direct impact on the business almost immediately.”
And impact it he did, establishing a Las Vegas headquarters and starting the process of collecting licenses in new jurisdictions. More importantly, he began gathering veteran talent to help him expand Bluberi’s footprint. From AGS, he brought in finance and data analytics executive James Prince as director of analytics and insights for Bluberi; Lesley Hodges, former AGS senior director of events, as senior director of marketing; and Cullen Wood, former AGS regional field service manager, as service director for his new company.
Next on board at Bluberi was veteran Konami sales executive Casey Whalen, who brought in two other Konami veterans. Last year, he tapped IGT marketing veteran Christian Smith and Mike Brennan, the former IGT vice president of product management whose pedigree stretches back to IGT legacy companies Spielo and Atronic.
“Talent is extremely important in this space, and as I mentioned previously, we already had a lot of it on board,” Burke said. “Right now, we are focusing on retaining and developing the people we have, as well as supplementing the team with outside talent from within the industry.”
Brennan says the move to Bluberi was an unexpected development, with its genesis in an unassuming lunch with Burke. “I’m established and in a large company, and I’m happy,” he said. “But I thought, ‘I’ll have lunch with the guy.’ And two and a half hours later… It was a really amazing lunch.”
What the lunch revealed, he said, was “a lot of similarities, and a lot of complementary skills, whereas he’s got the private equity finance background, but obviously the product and sales experience as well. And, I’m more of a product market guy.
“I had worked for a small company before, with Atronic/Spielo, and those were some of my fondest memories in my career of just being able to do more-the small startup camaraderie feeling; it’s led to our core values. ‘We are the new school’ is one of our values, and we’re here to walk that talk. We’re here to do things a different way, that we couldn’t maybe do in our previous lives just because of the construct of the organizations that we all came from.”
Brennan says the meshing of talent from diverse organizations, including not only major suppliers but Bluberi’s original team, has been the biggest plus in moving the supplier forward. “It’s bringing people together to work from each other’s skills and what has worked in our careers, and avoiding what didn’t work,” he said. “And learning from a disparate group of diverse and experienced team members. We’ve really got that from about five or so different organizations that all had different cultures. It’s just really great to learn from everyone how we can take that together and create our own culture here at Bluberi.”
Bluberi has product in a diverse range of markets, as well, from Class III casinos to Class II in the U.S. and Canada, to the Tribal Lottery System in Washington state. The company continues to collect licenses in new jurisdictions, establishing a foothold in nearly every tribal jurisdiction in the West, as well as Alabama, Florida and most recently, Connecticut. The company is ready to enter Nevada, Michigan and other markets, and has placed its first titles online through Bragg Gaming.
Burke says the supplier is still in the ramp-up stage in the U.S. “If this was a baseball game, I would say we are in the third inning, but we have runners on base,” he said. “We are getting better and better with each game release, and with each month that passes. There are still several things that we would like to do better, but the combination of great people and rapidly improving products is a formula for success.
“Five years from now, Bluberi will be a familiar brand, and will have at least one bank of games in every major casino in North America. We will be five times the size we are now, and be a sought-after employer, particularly for those who are looking for greater autonomy. We want to grow in size, but keep our small-company feel, allowing each and every employee to feel that their contributions will have a direct impact to the business.”
Eclipse Gaming
Georgia-based Eclipse Gaming Systems is another supplier of primarily Class II product for the tribal gaming market, but recent additions include seasoned professionals in both the Class II and Class III slot markets.
Tim Minard, the company’s CEO, has a history in another Class II success story that emerged as a strong new contender in the slot market. He was a senior executive with Cadillac Jack, the company that provided the technology that is now the basis of games by AGS, which acquired Cadillac Jack in 2015.
One of Minard’s key executives provides the kind of background that will allow the company to expand. Steven Slotwinski, Eclipse chief technology officer, was a longtime game producer for WMS Gaming and Scientific Games, where he developed some of that company’s most successful titles.
Slotwinski says the company will remain primarily a Class II supplier for the time being, but plans for Class III expansion are certainly in the future. “As Eclipse grows as a business, we continue to investigate additional product streams,” he said. “The Class III market is one that we have heavily investigated and intend to pursue when the time is right.”
Meanwhile, as with other growing slot suppliers, the key to growth is the right talent. “I have been with Eclipse for three years, and our team growth has been fantastic,” he said. “Our mission is to get the right people, with proven track records, to join Eclipse to increase our focus and our productivity year over year.
“We have restructured our team with an outstanding group of industry veterans that have not only helped shape Eclipse to what is it today but have also strategically set Eclipse up for success for years to come. We’re focused on getting the right heads together and really boost this company’s productivity in every discipline. We brought on Laura Olson-Reyes as our senior VP of marketing. She has had a long career in gaming, working for companies like Scientific Games, Aristocrat and AGS. We also just recently welcomed another proven veteran, Sean Evans, as our senior VP of sales. They are both making a big impact.”
Evans was one of the top sales executives with Aristocrat when that supplier made its first big push in the U.S. market in the early 2000s. “We’re thrilled that Sean has joined Eclipse,” Slotwinski said. “He brings years of experience and strong relationships in tribal gaming. Sean is focused on expanding our customer footprint and increasing our penetration in the markets where we are licensed to do business.”
What will ultimately drive Eclipse forward is content, and Slotwinski’s game design pedigree will be invaluable there. “The WMS approach to game design was incredibly creative, with the player’s experience being the main driver of content creation,” he said. “In addition to focusing on the players, we also focused on the employees building the games. The creativity that comes from a company is a direct result of the people working there. It is all about getting the right people together to make great games.”
He said this philosophy is what is driving growth at Eclipse. “We heavily focus on the players of our games and their experiences while playing our games,” Slotwinski explained. “We continually review game play data and player feedback to make sure we design better games time over time.
“Additionally, we focus heavily on our culture at Eclipse. We make every effort to encourage collaboration between all employees and make sure everyone is a part of each product we build. This positive structure allows the team to make some very creative products for our players to enjoy.”
As Eclipse Gaming continues to grow its team, Slotwinski notes that its Atlanta location is a perfect breeding ground for new technological talent. “There’s certainly a talent pool of people in the gaming industry in the Atlanta Metro area,” he said. “Additionally, the entertainment industry has grown substantially in the Atlanta area, thus giving us an opportunity to hire some very creative people from outside of the gaming industry.
“Our recruiting efforts have caught the attention of the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce. The chamber has put a major focus on bringing more STEM businesses (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to Gwinnett County, and have also been active with the Gwinnett school system by providing teachers and students real-world support from STEM business in the county.”
Eclipse Gaming is currently licensed in 10 tribal gaming jurisdictions serving approximately 40 tribes. “We are heavily invested in Alabama and Washington,” said Slotwinski. “Oklahoma obviously is an important market for us. So, we’re in nearly all the key Class II states, and we’re doing well in all of them.
“With our leadership team in place, we are focused on continuing to invest in people and solutions to contribute to our product evolution and customer success. We had a strong financial year in 2021 and we expect our products and customer footprint to scale accordingly. We’re also very focused on game development and increasing the breadth of our game library. We have grown our game development team significantly and made important investments that allow us to create games with engaging play mechanics, interactivity, audio, and visual experiences to players.”
Next month: Gaming Arts, Next Gaming, Zitro USA
