Free Slot Games of Las Vegas, LLC, the creative team behind the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Free Slots social casino app and unique white-label solutions for casino operators, announced that Robert Miodunski will serve as chairman of an Advisory Board for Strategic Planning and Product Development for the company.
With a career in Nevada gaming dating back to 1994, Miodunski served as president of the United Coin gaming route before taking over as CEO of Alliance Gaming/Bally Technologies, where he orchestrated a strong company turnaround in 2000-05. He later served as CEO of American Gaming Systems, leading up to the successful acquisition of AGS in 2013 by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, LLC.
Free Slot Games of Las Vegas (FSGoLV) was founded in 2014 by Dr. Olaf Vancura, who serves as CEO, and Robert Duran, vice president of technology, both of whom are also members of the Advisory Board. In addition to Miodunski’s new appointment, FSGoLV also announced the appointment of gaming industry leaders Paul Lofgren, Mick Roemer, Bill Nader and David Sloan to the Advisory Board, bringing the total member count to seven.
“I could not be more excited to lead this Advisory Board to bring the best products and ideas to the social casino space,” Miodunski said. “This is a very talented and successful group, and each person brings a different perspective that has served them well over their impressive careers in the gaming industry totaling more than 100 years as a group.” He also noted that each member of the Advisory Board has also made a financial investment in FSGoLV.
Vancura’s storied career includes vice president of game development positions at Mikohn/Progressive Gaming and AGS, with groundbreaking high-profile hit games and a prolific inventive streak of more than 80 patents in the gaming space. “Having access to thoughtful, quality gaming industry veterans with a proven track record is crucial to our technology company,” Vancura said. “Having them with a vested interest is priceless. Our current product offerings have already greatly benefitted from their valuable strategic input.”
“I’ve met with many casino operators and their one common desire is to achieve greater engagement by their player base,” said Lofgren, with 30-plus years of gaming experience, first as a Nevada Gaming Control Board regulator and subsequently as former executive vice president for Bally Technologies, AGS and VLC. “Our custom social casino apps are a fantastic tool for casino operators to link players on a 24/7 basis, creating this higher level of engagement. Our focus will be on creating more frequent player visits to our casino customers and greater brand loyalty.”
Roemer’s 30-plus years of gaming experience includes successful stints with IGT, Anchor Gaming, VLC, Bally and Multimedia and extensive experience in game development, marketing, product launches and customer relations. “It’s great to be working with Miodunski and Lofgren again. We were part of an incredible turnaround story at Bally, and it will be fun to focus that same energy here at Free Slots of Las Vegas. The social casino gaming market is still growing, and is becoming an important complement to brick-and-mortar casinos. It’s a way to expand the player experience and keep them even more engaged.”
Nader and Sloan have worked in tandem, as president and CFO respectively, for a number of gaming and technology ventures focused on route operations, distributed gaming, including United Coin, Caribbean Cage LLC, ARES Gaming Group and Gaming & Entertainment Management (GEM). Both United Coin and GEM were dominant in their markets in Nevada and Illinois during their tenure, with GEM being sold last fall to Delaware North. “Dave and I were attracted to this new form of distributed gaming,” Nader said, “and are intrigued by the possibilities of taking the best delivery of entertainment through mobile devices and marrying it with the massive marketing engine used in the traditional casino industry.”
“We are all about seamless delivery of content,” said Duran, who has created exciting games and delivery systems for AGS and Acres-Fiore. “Olaf and I are passionate about the player’s experience and the 24/7 nature of social casinos. Nonstop access by players demands that we provide compelling games each session, plus an ecosystem and experience that is sustainable over the long term.”
