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only thinking about the next few months and that impacts our ability to deliver the kind of innovation that has kept our industry growing these past few decades. SP: We are hearing stories of operators scaling back their ambitions due to increased costs linked to tariffs. What is the picture that’s emerging from your customer base? DD: I don’t know if we’re seeing that feed through yet on the supplier side. We have heard that companies are delaying capital investments or renovations, because the cost of construction is less certain. If that were to continue, that would funnel through to our members to the point where they would see it in capital replacement plans. Our operators constantly refresh the products they offer to their customers over several years. That’s where the macro effect of trade policies impacts capital decisions. If our operator customers pull back on capital reinvestment, that trickles down to decisions on what they replenish on the gaming floor. Or it changes the way they do it, so more rental or lease activity, rather than buying outright. Those are all financial decisions that our members will continue to navigate as best they can with their customers. Every customer is different, but yes, I would expect ideas and discussions about these kinds of arrangements to be explored by our members so they can get the latest, most innovative products in front of customers. For me, it comes down to two issues: how are we going to keep delivering our products in a profitable way that satisfies the needs of our customers, and how are we going to compete against competitors who are not in the regulated space? Those two things are on every company’s mind right now. SP: That is a neat segue to talking about the black market. Your members work in the regulated market, but tell us how the black market dynamic works on the supplier side. And what are you as an organization and your members doing about that? DD: When you look at the growth of our industry, that’s come on the back of innovation, great ideas and new players to the point where gaming is essentially everywhere now in some form. That’s a good thing, but at the same time, it gives a boost to those unlicensed, unregulated companies to be more
prevalent. That’s the downside, because the industry is highly regulated, and we play by the rules. That means compliance, paying taxes, providing the public protection frameworks, dispute mechanisms, responsible gaming and making sure that the games are tested, certified and approved. That’s what the regulated market does, but the unregulated market doesn’t provide any of that. So, for suppliers, it is difficult when you’re competing on an unlevel playing field. When customers don’t know or can’t tell the difference between a regulated or an unregulated game, that diminishes the value of regulated products and regulated suppliers while benefiting unregulated and unauthorized ones. We work with our partner associations – the American Gaming Association, the Canadian Gaming Association, the European Casino Association, the GTA down in Australia to name just a few – to keep them focused on the benefits of regulated suppliers. The message is, let’s work together so that your customers are safe, your taxes and revenues are secure, and we don’t have black market companies benefiting from the good work that regulated gaming has done. We are very pro regulation because wherever you have regulated markets, whether that’s land-based or online, our members will be there to deliver the products needed in those markets. Authorities should feel free to regulate whatever forms of gaming they wish to have in their jurisdiction and let that be the universe of products and games available there. We are there to be partners of regulated gaming, so let’s find a way to participate on a regulated level playing field and then the customers will decide whose products are the best. SP: It sounds like there are a couple of elements to this. One element consists of unregulated machines finding their way into regulated casinos. The other is enforcement, where regulators actively seek them out and take action, is that right? DD: Agreed, and that really clarifies the difference. We’re educating people so they know that the only products that are allowed are those authorized by a particular jurisdiction. The enforcement piece is difficult, because gaming regulatory authorities have limited resources. There are a lot of public policy issues. Illegal gaming is not always high on the priority list and it may not be easy to allocate significant resources
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IMGL MAGAZINE | JUNE 2025
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