Len Ainsworth, chairman of Ainsworth Game Technology

“No country can afford not to have casinos and gambling facilities”

2010-06-11
Reading time 1:43 min

Mr Ainswoth, you have been honored here at the show, due to your lifetime achievements. What does it represent for you?
I think it is a considerable honor and it represents recognition of my 60 years in which I’ve been at the business, and I think every time somebody gives you an honor it is greatly appreciated. It is a great compliment, of course, because there are a lot of people, but I suppose there are not many that are my age and have been in the industry as long as I have.

Have you ever imagined that the gaming industry would grow as much as it has grown right now?
Well, I think the industry will continue to grow, because, as I said in my speech, no country can afford not to have casinos and gambling facilities. If they don’t regulate it, then what is going to happen is that the money is going to leave to other country. For example, Thailand does not accept gambling but neighboring Cambodia does. Now Thailand, or Japan, too, can accept that for a while, but they will surely have to change. And the same happens through all South America, North America, Canada, the whole world.

You have been a pioneer in the industry of gaming machines. Which is the future you see for the new technologies?
Well, I think the machines will continue very much as they are now. There’s a lot of talk about server-based gaming and I think it has some specific applications, but I think they are more for the providers of server based games than for the providers of machines. And there is something that we can do with machines. I think server-based gaming will find it difficult to emulate; and there are certain limitations. We have many novelties all the time and the objective is to provide entertainment to the people. It’s all about entertainment.

Which is the future you see for Ainsworth, the company?
Well, we think the industry will continue to grow. Conventional machines will continue to attract the majority of the business and we think that conventional machines have been overtaken by video machines, a 100% in Australia, and the same is happening in America. But we do have to differentiate between people that come a few days for holidays and people that go to casinos every day. So you have to consider the different markets. Because when you manufacture machines, you have to make different types of machines. You have to sell your equipment to the market, and that’s a very big job to do.

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