The industry’s slot-machine suppliers killed it in the second quarter of 2018.
According to the quarterly slot-sales report from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, the slot manufacturing sector turned in its largest quarterly gains in more than five year for the quarter ended June 30. The report estimated that total slot sales for the quarter were between 21,500 and 22,500 units.
“Tribal markets and international casino operators continue to replace games at a much higher rate than commercial casinos,” analysts Todd Eilers and Adam Krejcik wrote in the report, which the firm produces in conjunction with Fantini Gaming Research.
“Sales to commercial casinos are starting to pick up and this is the primary driver for the overall improvement in the average replacement rate,” they wrote.
The survey polled 147 participants, who collectively operate 569 casinos worldwide.
New casino openings in Atlantic City helped fuel the rise. According to the report, nearly 3,100 machines were sold to the new Hard Rock and Ocean casinos on the Boardwalk. Replacement sales accounted for more than 6,300 games and nearly 2,900 conversion kits were sold.
“We note this number continues to trend upward since hitting a low point in March 2015,” the report said, noting replacement sales will continue to go up for the rest of 2018.
The report highlighted that Australia-based Aristocrat Technologies has the top three slot machine performers, in leased games Lightning Link, Dragon Link and Buffalo Grand. The company has a 28 percent market share, according to the report.
“The company’s share of top performing casino-owned games continued a recent upward swing,” Eilers & Krejcik wrote. “On the international front, survey participants purchased a healthy 51 percent of their games from Aristocrat, driven by strong sales in Europe, Australia, and Africa.”
The survey also gave high marks to AGS. “Looking forward, survey participants expect to allocate 6 percent of game purchases to AGS which was slightly better than our last couple of surveys,” the report said.
The survey also gave high marks to International Game Technology and Scientific Games, as well as Incredible Technologies, which was among the leaders in ship-share gain.
