NUTSHELL
5 Questions
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Harald Neumann
Chief Executive Officer , Ainsworth Game Technology
Industry veteran Harald Neumann was named chief executive officer at Ainsworth Game Technology in September 2021 , following a five-year tenure in the same position at Novomatic , Ainsworth ’ s majority shareholder . Since his appointment , Neumann has been focused on growing the North and Latin American markets , and the company ’ s historical horse racing ( HHR ) revolution has been a big part of that growth . Neumann spoke with GGB Editor Frank Legato at the Ainsworth booth at the G2E trade show in October . To hear and view a full podcast version of this interview , visit GGBMagazine . com .
GGB : Let ’ s start with some of the results — your earnings for fiscal year 2022 are up 38 percent , net income up to $ 11.8 million . What were the most critical contributors to these results ? Neumann : Well , the most critical was that the world recovered from Covid — I think that was the most important one . And of course , our U . S . piece has contributed more than 50 percent of our success ; Latin America has recovered , Australia is becoming better and better , so in total , the recovery from Covid and of course our HHR business in the U . S ., which also contributed a lot to our profitability .
How important are the Americas for Ainsworth , and what do you do to maintain growth in these markets ? We have defined three key markets for us : No . 1 , U . S .; No . 2 , Latin America ; and No . 3 , Australia . So you can see U . S . and Latin America are the first two . The U . S . is the biggest market by far in the casino area — we are quite successful already in the high-denomination area , and we want to increase our installed bases in the low-denomination area , and of course HHR should increase . Latin America is important for us , even though there are always some challenges , like in Mexico with the recent tax increase and smoking ban . But nevertheless , these markets are very important .
How has your commitment to R & D expanded and improved your product roadmap ? When I joined the company , this was priority No . 1 , because the company will only survive if we are providing the right games to our clients . We hired a new CTO , David Bollesen , and we have two new studio heads in Vegas and in Australia . All of them are already contributing to our success . We debuted three games at G2E , Treasure Spirits , Ca $ h Stacks Gold and Ultra Shot Gold , which are already indicative of the direction Ainsworth is going .
What have been the initial results back from the low-denomination additions ? We have already launched the games I mentioned in Sydney , and they are showing quite good results at the Star Sydney . We have had the experience that there ’ s a high probability that games which are successful in Australia will be successful in the U . S . We ’ ve really gotten quite positive feedback about the performance of our games , so I believe that we are going in the right direction .
Of course , we have to talk about HHR , where you ’ ve dominated the space . How have you been able to implement HHR development alongside your traditional offerings ? It ’ s a new game style in the U . S . which is really performing , and we recently announced an agreement for expansion to Kentucky Downs . Our improved performance in game development will , of course , also have an impact on our HHR games . So , everything is connected together , and as we are not co-developing a game just for HHR or just for Class III , this is connecting the features for both markets . This also brings an added revenue stream because we ’ re connecting games from Aristocrat , IGT , Konami and so on to our system , which generates added revenue and profitability .
“ They Said It ”
“ It ’ s very simple for me — it ’ s about building a sustainable business . We don ’ t want customers for 10 minutes ; we want them for 10 years . No one wants to benefit from others ’ misfortune .”
— Conor Grant , chief executive for the U . K . and Irish Division of Flutter Entertainment , on why the subsidiary Paddy Power is spending more than € 100 million annually on safer gaming measures
CALENDAR
December 5-7 : Global Symposium on Racing , Loews Ventana Canyon Resort , Tucson , Arizona . Produced by the Race Track Industry Program , University of Arizona . For more information , visit rtip . arizona . edu / symposium .
February 7-9 : ICE London , ExCeL , London , U . K . Produced by Clarion Gaming . For more information , visit ICELondon . UK . com .
February 28-March 1 : Casino & Esports Conference , Alexis Park Hotel , Las Vegas . Produced by Gameacon Events . For more information , visit casinoesportconf . com .
March 7-8 : iGaming Next : New York , The Convene-Midtown Manhattan , New York City . Produced by iGaming Next . For more information , visit iGamingNext . com .
March 27-30 : Indian Gaming 2023 , San Diego Convention Center , San Diego , California . Produced by the Indian Gaming Association . For more information , visit IndianGaming- Tradeshow . com .
March 29-30 : Prague Gaming & TECH Summit ’ 23 , Vienna House Andel ’ s Prague , Prague , Czech Republic . Produced by Hipther . For more information , visit Hipther . com .
April 19-20 : SAGSE LATAM 2023 , Buenos Aires Hilton , Buenos Aires , Argentina . Produced by Mongraphie . For more information , visit SAGSE- LATAM . com .
May 9-11 : SBC Summit North America , Meadowlands Exposition Center , East Rutherford , New Jersey . Produced by SBC . For more information , visit SBCEvents . com .
8 Global Gaming Business DECEMBER 2022