The Coming of
Bluberi
Using a meticulous growth plan , top-tier talent and strong game design , Bluberi aims at the top tier of the slot market BY FRANK LEGATO
When Bluberi Gaming scored two awards in the Eilers & Krejcik Gaming Slot Awards early this year , it may have seemed to some like the company came out of nowhere . Bluberi had been well-known around its Drummondville , Quebec home base as a Class II supplier , but as recently as three years ago , the company was relatively unknown in the U . S . But not to Andrew Burke . Burke , in his former role as senior vice president of slot products for Las Vegas-based supplier AGS , became familiar with the Canadian supplier when AGS served as the exclusive U . S . distributor of Bluberi slots . Burke knew quality when he saw it , and Bluberi ’ s Drummondville R & D team delivered it consistently . So when he was offered the job of chief executive officer of Bluberi , he jumped at the chance to translate what was at the time 25 years of success in Class II markets into Class III success in U . S . markets and beyond .
It was a challenge with which he was familiar . At AGS , he had been central in the effort to grow the company from another small Class II company into a force in the U . S . slot market . In January 2020 , he took the reins at Bluberi intent on creating another transformation .
Burke established a Las Vegas headquarters for Bluberi , while leaving the team in Drummondville “ to flourish as a center of excellence ,” he says . Burke then added veteran talent to work with that team in creating Bluberi ’ s transformation . In June 2020 , Burke brought in slot supply veteran Casey Whalen as Bluberi ’ s new chief commercial officer .
In 2021 , more veterans were added to the Bluberi team . Steven Kohon was brought in to handle Bluberi sales in the West , Mesa Whitehurst for the East . Kohon has since been elevated to Bluberi ’ s executive vice president of operations and service , and Whitehurst now runs all of sales .
That same year , Bluberi added former IGT veterans Mike Brennan and Christian Smith . Brennan is now Bluberi ’ s chief product officer . Smith is senior director of product and marketing . IGT and Scientific Games veteran Keith Hughes was then added to start up a studio in Reno .
Meanwhile in Quebec , a core team of key leaders was building diverse skill sets — people like Carl Nadeau , Benoit LaPolice , Fred Gilbert , and Eric Beaudoin . It was learning at warp speed through two decades of peaks and valleys . “ We joke that a Bluberi year is really 1.5 regular years ,” Burke says , “ because of the high-stakes environment we ’ ve all experienced and the pace to answer that sense of urgency .”
“ At other companies , easy things are difficult to do because of bureaucracy . At our company , the things we have to do are hard , but they ’ re easier to get done . I really think that encapsulates a lot of our culture , and it ’ s also what we want our culture to continue to be as we go into this growth phase of the business .”
— Andrew Burke , CEO , Blueberi
22 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2023