AGEM: "Events like G2E gives us a chance to meet with our members and find out which issues we need to address"

G2E Las Vegas took place from October 7-10, gathering more than 25,000 gaming professionals. Among them was Daron Dorsey, President and CEO of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM). 

During the event, Yogonet spoke exclusively with Dorsey, who shared the Association's feedback on the expo and deemed it a "very successful show". Moreover, he also shed some light on the Association's recent changes in structure, as well as AGEM's main priorities for the near future.

What did it mean for the association to be here at G2E? What are your main takeaways? 

The main takeaway is the feedback shows that it was a very successful show, well attended. There's been a lot of good commercial activity, which is always good given we are the association that represents a lot of the manufacturers and suppliers in the industry. It's a significant commitment for them to be here, so their having a successful and enjoyable show is something AGEM finds rewarding. 

There have also been a lot of very good content and communications about regulatory issues, a lot of stuff on sweepstakes and illegal markets that are obstacles for the regulated market, and new exciting markets like Brazil, which is getting a little bit closer to the opening date at the beginning of the next year.

In fact, a lot of our members are excited about the online opportunities in Brazil. It's a large market and it can be regulated. There's a large commercial upside potential from that jurisdiction for them.

What are some of the other major topics that were discussed at the show?

We saw lots of discussions about how new forms of technology are going to be entering or furthering their involvement with regulated gaming, whether that's AI, other kinds of artificial intelligence, or new forms of emerging technology. The question is how these assets are going to be integrated into the gaming experience.

We saw a larger iGaming presence this year at G2E than in prior years. That's where many of these advancements and technologies are going to take place. How they're going to fit within the regulated market will be exciting, maybe even more outside the US rather than inside the US. 

Daron Dorsey 

One would assume that shows such as G2E are a good platform for the association to advance its main interests. Would you say that's the case? How important are for the association meetings such as this one? 

Very important, because it gives us a chance as an association to meet with all of our members at the same time, in the same place, and find out if there are new issues we might need to address or take on over the next three, six, or nine months.

We get together as an industry, whether here, or in Barcelona at the start of the year, to find out how we can work for the benefit of all of our members. It's important that we can talk to them and hear what are the issues that we all care about.

AGEM announced changes in structure a few weeks ago. What led to that change, and in which way does it better serve the interests of the association and its members? 

It's been something that the board of directors wanted to pursue for many years. It's a further maturing of the association to operate more similarly to the way its members do. More like a corporation and a corporate board, with a more formalized corporate structure. That makes it a little bit more efficient for us to operate. 

At the same time, it allows us to add, maybe not necessarily new members, but find other partners that want to be involved with AGEM. We've got creations of possible board seats that are maybe not voting but might be other people that we're aligned with. As a trade association, and we see this with AGA, the ECA, and others, we believe it's a really important time for all of us to communicate and collaborate because we have many of the same members, who have the same goals. Moving AGEM into this new organizational structure can help us engage with other associations around the world. 

What are some of the major priorities for AGEM in the upcoming months? 

Trying to continue to find ways to engage with regulators to make the process for gaming technology more efficient, more business-friendly, and more constructive for 2025 and beyond.

Also, the continued conversation about how are we going to address the illegal, unregulated market that continues to grow because all of us in the regulated industry are here for a reason, and it's a very important environment and ecosystem. If people are benefiting from that but not playing by the same rules, that hurts everybody involved. It hurts our businesses. It hurts the patrons. It hurts the public policy of all of those jurisdictions where illegal operators are continuing to flourish.

We have to keep that conversation going and do something about it. If we don't, it's going to continue to grow out of control and it's going to hurt our entire industry, top to bottom.

Have you seen interest from new companies seeking to join the Association?

Yes. And as I mentioned earlier, it's been exciting at this G2E to see a little bit more of a focus on iGaming. There's been interest from some significant iGaming companies, some in other parts of the world, which are interested in regulated US markets. AGEM is a contact point.

We've got some new members in that environment over the last year. We're having discussions with a lot of other large global, interactive, and digital providers that are becoming members of AGEM.