Aristocrat joins the bar top game market, rolling out video product with ‘Buffalo’ slots

September 4, 2019 12:00 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports
September 4, 2019 12:00 PM
  • Howard Stutz, CDC Gaming Reports

The growing slot machine route market has lately been attracting some traditional casino operators, such as Penn National Gaming and Boyd Gaming Corp., which both recently acquired businesses in Illinois.

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Game developer Aristocrat Technologies also believes there is opportunity within the sector.

After more than two years of development, the Australian-based company is set to roll out “Winners World,” a multi-game bar top game with video poker, keno and traditional slot machine games. All three areas include games with Aristocrat’s popular “Buffalo” game title.

The company’s timing might be just right.

Slot machines routes continue to be part of most state gaming expansion initiatives, most notably in Illinois and Pennsylvania.

Aristocrat hopes to make a splash in Nevada, where some 19,000 slot machines are operated in restricted gaming establishments like bars, taverns, convenience stores, grocery stores and other businesses, which are allowed up to 15 games.

Nathan Drane, Aristocrat’s vice president of commercial strategy – game sales, said Nevada’s slot route operators have historically not seen much in the way of innovation beyond video poker.

Drane said the uniqueness of Aristocrat’s new “Winner World” bar top, which has eight video poker games, four keno games and three traditional Aristocrat slot machine games – Buffalo, Buffalo Gold and Lepre’coins – offers variety.

“We’ll be curious to see the response from the customer,” Drane said.

Initially, Aristocrat will roll out the machines in five Las Vegas-area taverns operated by Golden Entertainment’s PT’s Entertainment Group. The company also operates Nevada’s largest statewide slot machine route.

“We are excited about introducing Aristocrat’s new ‘Winners World’ games to our players at select PT’s taverns,” said Jay Fennel, vice president of gaming development and technology, for Golden Entertainment. “These machines are full of new and exciting game content and the innovation is fantastic. We look forward to seeing how our players are going to react.”

Drane said the taverns will have between two and four of Aristocrat’s games. He said the slot route operators to manage the machines but Aristocrat “will provide various marketing materials to help bar staff with the games.”

Aristocrat officials said the machines offer a much different bar top experience for players, game operations, and bar staff.

The cabinet features a floating 23.5-inch LCD tilted monitor, which includes a USB phone charger. The video monitor is a flip top for easy service, which eliminates counter space intrusion and downtime. The cabinet is equipped with a “smart-drink” tracking light, making it easier for bartenders to reward players.

“While innovation abounds in every area of the casino, bar top play has been largely stagnant,” Aristocrat Americas President Hector Fernandez said in a statement, adding that the company’s “fresh take” on the game brings Aristocrat slots “to these venues for the first time.”

Also in Las Vegas, Aristocrat is providing its new bar top machines at Boyd Gaming’s Orleans Casino.

Outside of Nevada, Aristocrat has rolled out the new bar top product in California at Harrah’s Southern California near San Diego and the Graton Resort near Santa Rosa. The games are also in Louisiana at Boyd’s Sam’s Town Shreveport.

“’Winner’s World’ multi-game has been an instant fan favorite across Boyd Gaming destinations nationwide,” said Boyd Gaming Vice President of Slot Operations Mike Laubach. “We look forward to bringing this new and improved bar top play to our players throughout our portfolio.”

In a report by St. Louis-based accounting firm RubinBrown, six states with locations that have slot machine route operations – Illinois, Oregon, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota and West Virginia – grew revenues 7.5 percent to $4.04 billion during 2018.

The figures don’t include Nevada, which doesn’t publicly report revenues from its slot machine routes.

Under Nevada gaming regulations, locations pay the state an annual fee of $250 per machine. There is also a quarterly fee per machine; $81 each for the first five games and $141 each for the next 10. That adds up to an annual tax of $11,010 for a location with 15 slot machines.

According the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s quarterly statistics report, 1,982 statewide locations in 2018 paid total fees of $8.45 million on 18,961 games.

Beyond Nevada, limited stakes gaming continues to grow.

Pennsylvania is expected to roll out video gaming at truck stops statewide this year, each of which can offer a maximum of five games. In Illinois, the recent gaming expansion bill allows each location to add one additional machine. As of the end of July, Illinois has 7,044 locations – bars, restaurants, liquor stores, fraternal lodges, and other establishments with a liquor license – operating 32,314 games.

Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.