Aristocrat looks to US online gaming growth after Trump’s win

Aristocrat Leisure is best known for making poker and slot machines, but says there is also plenty of room for digital market gains in North America.

Citi analysts say Aristocrat’s second-half earnings in North America were 6 per cent higher than its estimates.

Aristocrat Leisure will target big growth opportunities in online casinos and digital lotteries across North America, as trading con­ditions improve in the US after ­Donald Trump’s presidential election win.

While manufacturing poker machines will continue to drive a big part of Aristocrat’s earnings, chief executive Trevor Croker said his company would target taking market share in the online casino and lotteries sectors in the US and quickly moving into new states when authorities legalised online gaming.

“We take market share and when there is macro [economic] growth we are going to ride it faster than others,” Mr Croker told The Australian.

He said that, in terms of online lotteries, Aristocrat had about 67 per cent market share in the US and would be targeting gains in Massachusetts next year when the lotteries were legalised there.

“In iCasinos we are only in the single-digit market share space at the moment so you have to believe our business can get more market share and also get into more markets when they open up,” Mr Croker said.

He said that only about seven states had online casinos at present, with Aristocrat having a presence in four and, with sports betting now allowed in about 40 states, “you’d have to believe over time” more online casinos “would be allowed in more states as well”.

The Aristocrat Interactive division, which includes “iLottery” and “iGaming”, is targeting $1bn in annual revenue. Aristocrat Gaming, the slot and poker machine-making division, had operating revenue of $6.6bn in 2024.

Aristocrat chief executive Trevor Croker. Picture: Britta Campion

One of the company’s biggest non-institutional shareholders is the family of 101-year-old founder Len Ainsworth, though US investors now account for about 29 per cent of Aristocrat’s share register.

Aristocrat will pay a higher dividend after delivering what it termed an “outstanding” full-year normalised profit after tax of $1.55bn, up 17 per cent, it revealed on Wednesday. Normalised operating revenue for the 12 months to September 30 was up 5 per cent compared to the previous corresponding ­period, at $6.6bn.

On a statutory basis, profit was down 10 per cent at $1.30bn.

Aristocrat, which announced the sale worth up to $US820m of its Plarium gaming business on Tuesday, will pay a 42c-a-share final dividend on December 20, taking its full-year payout to 78c, compared to 64c in the 2023 ­financial year.

As at September 30, the company had bought back almost $1.6bn of $1.85bn worth of shares it proposed under the buyback program that ends in February.

It said it was optimistic about its overall outlook, with Mr Croker saying there was still opportunity for Aristocrat to win market share “in Australia, Asia, North America and elsewhere”.

On the regulatory front, Aristocrat said “in Australia, negative political and media sentiment around gaming impacting our capacity for effective industry advocacy, and increasing the scope for negative policy making, politically driven inquiries, and increased shareholder requirements continued”.

Aristocrat shares fell in early trading on Wednesday, but recovered to close up 2.6 per cent at $66.62.

Citi analysts said Aristocrat’s second-half earnings in North America were 6 per cent higher than its estimates and, with that and the outlook for further strong market share growth in gaming, the results “should be reasonably well received, notwithstanding the recent strong run”.

Aristocrat shares have risen more than 60 per cent since the start of the year.

Originally published as Aristocrat looks to US online gaming growth after Trump’s win