Aristocrat Leisure Launching Online Casino Product This Year
There is a new online casino product hitting the internet later this year and it is Aristocrat Leisure that is launching it. The Australian pokie machine giant has plans for becoming the leader in the digital gambling industry.
Aristocrat’s top brass unveiled its online casino product plans during a half-year results presentation. Chief executive Trevor Croker confirmed the company’s online casino product is on course for a launch in 2022. However, it launches with two US customers in two states, with a third planned for early 2023.
“Aristocrat is accelerating implementation of our ‘build and buy’ strategy to scale in online real money gaming. Online real money gaming is a logical growth and diversification opportunity that is highly complementary to both the Aristocrat Gaming and Pixel United businesses. It provides further channels for the distribution of our world-leading content, and leverages out strengths, including our ability to attack attractive adjacencies through strong investment and effective operational execution.”
“With the anticipated launch of an online casino product with key customers in the US by the end of calendar 2022, we are continuing to ramp up organic investment in product and technology.”
Online Casino Product is a First For Aristocrat
Launching an online casino product is a complete first for Aristocrat. The Aussie firm specialises in the live casino world and has its famous machines in casinos globally. It makes its money through daily rents of those machines. $78.77 per machine per day is the daily rent accrued from machines in the United States. Aristocrat has 50,554 of its machines on US soil. That equated to $3,982,138.58 per day if all machines are running.
Aristocrat does have an online presence through its Pixel United company, formerly Aristocrat Digital. Pixel United primarily focuses on mobile gaming and is not a traditional online casino product. More than seven million people play Pixel United games daily, with many making in-app purchases. The company enjoyed $2.56 million in revenue in 2021.
Having a dedicated online casino product adds more funds to Aristocrat’s bottom line, which pleases shareholders and investors. The company made $580.1 million profit after taxes in the six months to March 31, 2022. That is a substantial 41% increase from the $411.6 million during the same period last year. However, COVID-19 related closures affected Aristocrat’s figures in 2020 and 2021.
Shares soared almost 4.3% to $35.17 per share following the positive news
Aristocrat Prepares For $500 Million Share Buy-Back
Aristocrat raised $1.3 billion in October 2021 by releasing more shares into the market. It plans to buy back up to $500 million of those shares in the coming months. Increased cash flow, a robust balance sheet, and the upcoming online casino product are the main reasons behind the buy-back.
“Aristocrat’s exceptionally robust balance sheet and consistently strong cash flow generation enables us to reinvest in the business, retain our capacity to pursue acquisitions, and return cash via dividends and share buy-backs. We will continue to actively assess growth opportunities, including strategic acquisitions and investment in organic initiatives.”
June 2, 2022, is the date Croker set for the commencement of the share buy-backs.
The online casino product launch and share buy-back are two positive newsworthy pieces following the disappointment of the failed Playtech acquisition. Aristocrat was all set for a $3.9 billion takeover of the London Stock Exchange listed gambling tech company.
Everything looked to be progressing nicely until Gopher Investments threw a spanner in the works. Gopher is a major Playtech shareholder with immense voting rights. It voted against the takeover at the shareholder’s meeting. Gopher’s clout meant the takeover only achieved 56.14% yes votes but it required 75%. Aristocrat has not and does not plan to go back in for Playtech
