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Aristocrat Tops Diverse Field in EKG Slot Awards

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Aristocrat Gaming once again led the field in Eilers & Krejcik Gaming’s fifth annual EKG Slot Awards event, held February 23 at the Aria in Las Vegas. Aristocrat won a total of six awards, including a repeat win as Top Overall Supplier.

It was not quite as dominant a showing for Aristocrat as in other years—the supplier won nine EKG awards last year, for instance—but its six awards still led all suppliers.

In addition to the top award, the company won for Top Performing New Video Reel Core Game (Bao Zhu Zhao Fu Red Festival), Top Performing New Premium Game (Lightning Dollar Link: Kung Fu Master), Top Performing New Video Cabinet (Neptune Single), Top Performing Proprietary Branded Game (Dragon Link), and Most Innovative Game (Bao Zhu Zhao Fu Red Festival).

While Aristocrat was on top, the awards this year reflected increased competition in the slot sector, as other suppliers won multiple prominent awards.

IGT, for instance, won four awards, including nods for its DiamondRS cabinet, named Top Performing New Mechanical Reel Cabinet-Core; Wheel of Fortune High Roller, named Top Performing Third Party IP Branded Game; Ultimate X Poker as Top Performing Video Poker Game (for the first time, a nominated video poker supplier was not IGT as Aristocrat’s Winner’s World bartop scored a nomination); and Most Improved Supplier-Premium.

Light & Wonder won three awards, scoring Top Performing New Mechanical Reel Game for its new Blazing 7s wheel game, Blazing 777 Triple Double Jackpot Wild, as well as Top Performing New Cabinet for Kascada Dual Screen and Top Social Casino Company for its SciPlay division.

Bluberi scored its first EKG Slot Awards, winning for Top Performing Game from an Emerging Supplier with its Devil’s Lock game and as Most Improved Supplier-Core.

LAND-BASED AWARDS

Top Performing NEW Video Reel Core Game

Bao Zhu Zhao Fu Red Festival – Aristocrat

Top Performing NEW Mechanical

Reel Core Game

Blazing 777 Triple Double Jackpot WildLight & Wonder

Top Performing NEW Premium Game

Lightning Dollar Link - Kung Fu Master –Aristocrat

Top Performing NEW Video Cabinet – Core

Neptune Single - Aristocrat

Top Performing NEW Mechanical

Reel Cabinet – Core

DiamondRS – IGT

Top Performing NEW Cabinet – Premium

Kascada Dual Screen - Light & Wonder

Top Performing Proprietary Branded Game

Dragon Link – Aristocrat

There was a special award created this year for Murka, the Cyprus-based social casino game development company that continued its operations in Kyiv and Dnipro, Ukraine, despite the Russian invasion and war over the past year. Murka was given a Special Award for Overcoming Adversity.

Meanwhile, the EKG Slot Awards Hall of Fame got three new members at the event. Inducted in the Game Development category were Dennis Mead and Charles Fey. In the Slot Operations category, Buddy Frank was also inducted into the Hall.

Mead distinguished himself at IGT, where he was art director for products including Wheel of Fortune, Megabucks and Quartermania, as well as designing custom slot machines for major Las Vegas Strip properties.

Fey (1862-1944), the first posthumous induction into the Hall of Fame, is credited with designing and building the first three-reel slot machine, the Liberty Bell, in the late 1890s, establishing the basic slot format that would be followed by all others for more than a century. Fey’s grandson, Marshall Fey, appeared on video to induct the legendary inventor.

Frank is a legend in slot operations, having started his career at three Reno casinos and capping it off as vice president of slot operations at California’s Pechanga Resort Casino.

The land-based category winners were determined by the official voting from over 100 qualified slot directors representing over 300 casinos across the U.S. and Canadian markets and representing roughly 300,000 total slot machines. For the iGaming and Social Casino segments, winners were determined by voting from a distinguished panel of industry experts.

A complete listing of the winners for the fifth annual EKG Slot Awards is provided below.

Social Casino Awards

Top Performing 3rd Party IP Branded Game

Wheel of Fortune - High Roller – IGT

Top Electronic Table Game (ETG) Supplier Interblock

Top Performing Video Poker Game

Ultimate X Poker - IGT

Top Performing Game from an Emerging Supplier

Devil’s Lock – Bluberi

Most Innovative Game

Bao Zhu Zhao Fu Red Festival – Aristocrat

Most Improved Supplier – Core Bluberi

Most Improved Supplier – Premium

IGT

Best Overall Supplier of Slot Content

Aristocrat

Best Social Slots Game

Lightning Link Casino - Pixel United

Best NEW Social Casino Game

MGM Slots Live – PlayStudios

Top Social Casino Company SciPlay iGAMING AWARDS (Real Money)

Top Performing NEW Online Slot

Almighty Buffalo Megaways - White Hat Studios

Top Performing NEW Online Table Game

21+3 Progressive Blackjack - Bragg Gaming Group

Top Performing Online Live Casino Game

Live Dealer Blackjack - Evolution

Most Innovative Online Game

Break the Bounty LuckyTap - Design Works Gaming

Best Overall Supplier of Online Content

Evolution

Top Performing Omni-Channel Slot (Retail & Online)

Triple Jackpot Gems - Everi

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