Aristocrat Online: The Australian player’s software producer of choice

Serious pokie players in Australia need now introduction to Aristocrat Leisure Limited. As the no. 2 supplier of old-fashioned one-armed bandits and video slot games to land-based casinos – and by far the holder of the biggest share of the Oz market – any player worth his or her salt will have enjoyed Aristocrat pokies by now.

Founded in 1953, the company’s first pokie was The Clubman; its sequel The Clubmaster was released two years later and Aristocrat was off to the races. By 1960, Aristocrat was selling its games in Europe and the next year in Las Vegas. Pokies sold in these locations were locally produced, however, and it was the company’s decision to direct-export their games in 1981 that put Aristocrat at the top of pokie producers worldwide.
 

The final big step for the firm came in 2001. With the acquisition of Las Vegas-based Casino Data Systems, Aristocrat was finally able to convert old titles and create new pokies for the online format. (No sign of a virtual version of Clubman or Clubmaster as yet, however.)

Today, Aristocrat Online has a few dozen pokie titles to its credit, including flagship title Queen of the Nile and Red Baron, both based on ‘real life’ games produced by the company.