aristocrat gaming CEO Hector Fernandez told CNBC that digital opportunities are key to the company’s future, as is ensuring the protection of intellectual property.
Fernandez said he welcomed the competition, but added: “One of the things that is extremely important to us is to aggressively protect the intellectual property that we create.”
Global game maker takes competitor Light & Wonder to federal court, accusing it of copyright infringement and claiming Light & Wonder’s “Dragon Train” game is too similar to its own Dragon Link game Ta.
The Nevada District Court agreed and issued a preliminary injunction against Light & Wonder in late September. Light & Wonder said it disagreed with the ruling, but fired one of the designers who worked on the game.
Light & Wonder told CNBC that it plans to modify the Dragon Train and put it back into service in the future, following the court order.
This year, the stock prices of casino game manufacturers generally exceeded those of casino operating companies. Light & Wonder’s stock price had risen about 37% since the beginning of the year before the court’s ruling in September. This year, it’s up 17%.
Aristocrat shares, traded in Australia, are up 41% this year.
Fernandez also told CNBC that the company is focused on digital opportunities as part of its overall strategy. Online casino gambling, known as iGaming, is only licensed in six states in the United States, but its total gaming revenue is growing at about the same rate as sports betting, according to the American Gaming Association.
FanDuel, the domestic market share leader in iGaming, said at its September investor day that its most popular online games are the brands that gamblers typically play in brick-and-mortar casinos.
Fernandez told CNBC that the priority is to create gaming content that is appealing to players and that convinces customers that those games will work on the casino floor.
