Slot industry legend Len Ainsworth joined local and state dignitaries on Friday for the official groundbreaking for the new Las Vegas headquarters of Ainsworth North America, the U.S. division of Australian slot manufacturer Ainsworth Game Technologies.
Mike Dreitzer, president-North America for Ainsworth, welcomed Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, Nevada Third District Congressman Joe Heck and other dignitaries to the event, breaking ground for a 291,000-square-foot headquarters building at Jones Boulevard and Sunset Road in Las Vegas.
The two-story office, manufacturing and warehouse complex, on 23.7 acres near I-215, is slated to be complete in mid-2016. The design architect is KGA Architecture. The new facility will accommodate 300 employees and provide for future company growth. The project will create 125 direct and indirect construction jobs.
State and local dignitaries presented Ainsworth with various certificates of recognition during the ceremony. On awarding the Certificate of Congressional Recognition to Ainsworth, Heck praised the company for its commitment to employ local people at the facility.
Donald Snyder, president of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, praised the company for its support of UNLV students, including the offering of internships at the company and for Len Ainsworth’s Friday talk to students, during which he gave an overview of his career.
James Lord of KGA Architecture said the facility will be “a building the local community can be proud of,” noting both the aesthetic quality of the exterior and the interior design, employing a use of natural light that “will make employees as efficient and creative as possible.”
Len Ainsworth, 91, the chairman and founder of Ainsworth Game Technologies and of Australia’s Aristocrat Leisure Industries, has been involved in an effort to bring Ainsworth slots to the North American casino market.
“I’m proud to become a permanent part of the community,” Ainsworth told the gathered crowd. “I’ve been coming here since 1960, before many of you were born, and a time when gaming couldn’t’ even get bank loan. Since then, Nevada has led the way in establishing licensing procedures, keeping questionable people out of the business, and creating a respectable industry.
“I’m often asked about the future of gaming and slot machines. I always respond that the first slot machines appeared more than 110 years ago, and I suspect they will be around a lot longer.”
After the ceremony, Ainsworth commented that he is bullish on the company’s prospects in North America. “We’ve got such a wide range of machines, with so many different variations,” he said. “We’ve even had our competitors telling us how good our mathematical models are. We prefer to be judged on our performance, so we will let the games speak for themselves.”
He added that U.S. game designers will help move the company forward in the U.S. “You need to have local people working, because they’re the ones who understand the local scene,” he said. “You can have all the brains in the world working on a game only to find it doesn’t suit the local market.”
The most important factor in game design? Says Ainsworth, “People should feel they’ve gotten a good run for their money.”
