Expect more slot machines soon as gaming device maker Aruze Gaming America, Inc., which supplies roughly 10% of slot machines worldwide, announced plans to expand its $35-million factory in the Philippines.
Aruze Gaming America is planning to churn out more slot machines soon.
The gaming device maker, which currently supplies about 10 percent of the slot machines globally, said it plans to expand the operations of its manufacturing plant in the Philippines, Business World reported. Aruze Group Chief Executive Officer Takahiro Usui said they intend to add up to 200 people to their 400-strong workforce, with emphasis on the research and development team.
Aruze Gaming’s 65,000-square-meter facility is located in Batangas, about 107 kilometers south of the country’s capital Manila. The $35-million factory produces an average of 30 machines daily, which are exported to Macau, Australia, South Africa and the United States.
Usui said Aruze had a similar facility in Japan, but decided to move its operations in the Philippines in 2009. The Philippine team handles software engineering and graphic work, while the company’s 130-member team in Tokyo, Japan, is in charge of hardware and concept design.
The company generated a revenue of $100 billion in 2014, according to Rappler. This year, Usui said they are targeting at least $150 billion in revenues.
To date, Aruze has supplied roughly 1.5 million slot machines to casinos worldwide, and these machines were all made in the Batangas factory. About 4,500 united were exported from the plant in 2014, and Usui said that volume has already increased by as much as 160 percent YOY as of last June.
Aruze is a subsidiary of the Universal Entertainment Corporation (UEC), which is owned by Japanese mogul Kazuo Okada. The Japanese gambling mogul started his empire by repairing and leasing jukeboxes in 1969 before branching out to manufacturing and selling pachinko machines, and then eventually slot machines.
Another UEC subsidiary, Tiger Resorts Leisure and Entertainment, is currently building a 44-hectare casino and entertainment complex project—Manila Bay Resorts—within Pagcor Entertainment City in Manila. Tiger execs said the $2 billion integrated casino will be completed by early 2017.
The Manila Bay Resorts is the fourth casino to rise at the Entertainment City zone. Two projects—Bloomberry Resorts’ Solaire Resort and Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams Manila—are already operating, while the third casino, Genting Group and Alliance Global Group’s Resorts World Bayshore, is slated to open in 2018.
