The story
The company produced their first machine in 1953 and was listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in 1996. The company was founded by Leonard Ainsworth, whose family maintains a substantial stake in the company. Ainsworth is now chairman of a different gambling company, Ainsworth Game Technology. Aristocrat is licensed to distribute slot machines and other gambling products in over 200 jurisdictions (note that many countries, including Australia, have a number of different gambling-license jurisdictions).
Aristocrat's CEO blamed the US subprime mortgage crisis for poor financial results in 2008, despite competing companies experiencing record growth in the same period. As a result of the expected drop in revenue, the CEO enacted sweeping budget cuts, including large-scale retrenchments of staff from all areas of the business. For the 12 months to December 2009, the company reported a net loss of A$157.8 million.
In 2011, Aristocrat reached an agreement with the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis to provide equipment and games for Alberta's video lottery terminal network.
In July 2014, Aristocrat agreed to buy gambling machine provider Video Gaming Technologies for about US$1.28 billion to triple its North American business amid falling profit in Australia.
On 10 August 2017, the company acquired mobile game developer Plarium for $500 million to enter into mobile gambling.
On 30 November 2017, Aristocrat acquired mobile game developer Big Fish Games for US$990 million.
Trevor Croker became chief executive officer of Aristocrat in March 2017, succeeding Jamie Odell.
In July 2019, Aristocrat filed legal action against Ainsworth Game Technology, alleging misuse of proprietary code and media assets connected to its Lightning Link games.
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In 2021, Aristocrat received Global Gaming Awards, including recognition in land-based product, land-based supplier, and slot product categories.
In October 2021, Aristocrat announced a bid to acquire Playtech for US$3,7 billion. The proposal was later rejected by Playtech shareholders. In May 2022, Aristocrat announced plans to launch an online casino business. Aristocrat further announced a A$500 million on-market share buyback after the Playtech bid did not proceed.
In May 2023, Aristocrat announced an agreement to acquire NeoGames for about US$1 billion. The acquisition was completed in April 2024, and NeoGames was combined with Anaxi to form Aristocrat Interactive.
In February 2025, Aristocrat completed the sale of Plarium Global to Modern Times Group. The sale followed a review of Aristocrat's casual and mid-core gambling portfolio.
In January 2026, Aristocrat and Light & Wonder settled litigation in Australia and the United States concerning Light & Wonder's Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon titles. Under the settlement, Light & Wonder agreed to pay Aristocrat US$127.5 million and cease commercialization of the disputed games globally.
From Wikipedia’s article on Aristocrat Leisure, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4