In a result that came as no surprise, Aristocrat Gaming secured its seventh consecutive title as Best Overall Supplier of Slot Content at the EKG Awards. To date, no other company has received this top honor. "The EKG Awards recognize top performance, and we are grateful to each of our customers who allow us the privilege of entertaining players with our leading game content, hardware, systems, and more," said Aristocrat Gaming CEO Craig Toner in a press release following the awards ceremony. He emphasized the company's dedication to providing the best gaming experience for players in both land-based and online sectors, crediting their talented teams worldwide for this achievement.
While Aristocrat continued to hold its top award, it relinquished some of its dominance in individual categories to competitors. In 2022, the company garnered nine individual awards; this year, it claimed six—notably fewer than last year. Compared to 2023, when Light & Wonder earned seven individual accolades, Aristocrat’s total dropped to five in 2024.
This year, Aristocrat received just one individual award aside from its Best Overall Supplier nod. Its King Max cabinet was recognized as the Top Performing New Premium Cabinet. IGT and Light & Wonder led the individual categories, with IGT securing the most awards at seven and Light & Wonder close behind with six.
IGT's award-winning games included Tiger & Dragon Cash On Reels for Top Performing New Premium Game, Whitney Houston for Top Performing Third Party IP Branded Game, and Mega Hot Poker for Top Performing Video Poker/Keno Game. Other accolades for IGT were Magic Treasures Dragon for Top Performing Game-EMEA, Tiger & Dragon Cash On Reels for Most Innovative Land-Based Game, Blackjack Poker & Pairs Surrender for Top Performing New Online Table Game, and Best Overall Supplier of Online Content.
Light & Wonder's Huff N Even More Puff was awarded Top Performing New Core Video Game, while Double Blazing 777 2X3X5X was recognized as the Top Performing New Core Mechanical Reel Game. Its 88 Fortunes game earned the title of Social Slots Game of the Year, and StacKing Kong was honored as Most Innovative Online Game. Light & Wonder was also named Most Improved Supplier-Premium, and its SciPlay subsidiary took home the award for Social Casino Operator of the Year.
The awards program featured both expected results and a few newcomers. Zitro successfully repeated its win for Top Performing Game-Latin America with Mighty Hammer Link Up. Interblock was again recognized as the Top Performing Electronic Table Game Supplier. Sega Sammy won its first two EKG Slot Awards: Genesis Atmos was named Top Performing New Core Cabinet, and Railroad Riches-Sheriff earned recognition as the Top Performing Game from an Emerging Supplier.
Another first-time winner, Incredible Technologies, was celebrated as the Most Improved Supplier-Core. In the igaming category, AGS triumphed with Top Performing New Online Slot Game for 3X Ultra Diamond, while Ainsworth won Top Performing Omnichannel Slot Game for San Fa Pandas. White Hat Studios was named the Most Improved Supplier of Online Content.
Two new members were inducted into the EKG Slot Awards Hall of Fame this year. Dominic Tiberio, an inductee in the Game Development category, began his career at Bally Manufacturing in 1963 and developed the pioneering Money Honey game, which marked the advent of the electro-mechanical slot machine. He produced successful games for Bally until his retirement in 2008. Robert Allen, the inductee in the Slot Operations category, had a notable career starting as a slot floor supervisor at Harrah’s Marina Casino in 1984. He later became a corporate vice president of slots for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians and Pinnacle Entertainment before retiring in 2017.
For the land-based category winners, voting was conducted by over 120 qualified slot directors from more than 320 casinos across the US and Canada, which operate around 330,000 slot machines. Winners in the igaming and social casino segments were determined by a distinguished panel of industry experts.
