CHICAGO & LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Williams Interactive LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of WMS Industries Inc. (NYSE:WMS), announced today an agreement to provide its next-generation Play4Fun Network iGaming and Marketing platform to premier casino operator Affinity Gaming® customized to their A-Play™ loyalty program. This first-of-its-kind deal empowers Affinity Gaming to leverage the free-play Play4Fun Network online gaming platform to build an engaged online community by providing players at the twelve Affinity Gaming casinos and resorts spread across four states new ways to enjoy their favorite casino slot content between visits to the casino floor - on their computers, tablets and mobile devices. Affinity Gaming’s Play4Fun Network is scheduled for launch by the end of 2013, subject to any applicable regulatory approvals.
The Play4Fun Network is a first-of-its-kind, white-label, free-to-play platform designed with the online gaming tools and marketing capabilities traditional brick-and-mortar casinos can leverage to expand their brands online and build an engaged online community of casino players. The B2B Play4Fun Network is completely branded and customized for the operator, offering their players a seamless experience across desktop, tablet and mobile devices. The player experience is grounded in the Williams Interactive library of proven WMS slot games that players already know and love from the casino floor.
Through a Play4Fun Network platform branded to the A-Play™ customer loyalty club, Williams Interactive is providing Affinity Gaming the ability to connect with players from their 12 casino and resort properties (six in Nevada, three in Colorado, two in Missouri, and one in Iowa) between visits through a combination of proven social gaming mechanics and an award-winning marketing platform that will enable Affinity Gaming properties to fully engage their players online to drive incremental visits to their casino floors. The A-Play™ Play4Fun Network will allow Affinity Gaming to customize, deploy and manage native mobile applications for iPad®, iPhone® and Android® devices, and provides players with a seamless multi-channel social casino gaming experience under the A-Play™ Club brand.
The Play4Fun Network platform will integrate with the A-Play™ loyalty program, giving Affinity Gaming a complete view of player activity – online and on the casino floor. The platform provides easy-to-use, turn-key marketing capabilities that will empower Affinity Gaming to leverage these incremental player touch points to create and manage messaging personalized to target players based on activity, loyalty tier or even location through next-generation technologies like Geofencing and Push Notifications. These highly focused marketing offers can deliver real-time messages to target players on their iOS® or Android tablets and smart phones.
Affinity Gaming’s A-Play™ Play4Fun Network will launch with free-play versions of player-favorite WMS Gaming slot themes, including Invaders from the Planet Moolah™, Brazilian Beauty® and Super Jackpot Party®. The platform leverages proven social gaming mechanics to increase its ability to engage and retain players by recognizing their game activity over time with leaderboards, access to new unlocked content and more.
The cloud-based open architecture of the Williams Interactive Play4Fun Network platform makes it a flexible and scalable option, able to accommodate both the short- and long-term free-play gaming goals of the Company’s casino partners. Williams Interactive can utilize the platform’s API to integrate premium 3rd party content, from Bingo to Table Games and more, to provide additional ways for operators to engage multiple player tastes and preferences. Additional content for the Play4Fun Network will be announced as it becomes available.
Orrin J. Edidin, President of WMS Industries and President & Chief Executive Officer for Williams Interactive, said, “The selection of our Play4Fun Network to serve a casino loyalty program covering a dozen casinos and resorts throughout Iowa, Missouri, Colorado, and Nevada serves to further validate our strategy of leveraging our portfolio of proven WMS Gaming slot content and best-in-class technologies to empower land-based casinos to benefit from the convergence of land-based and online gaming experiences. We’re excited to launch a Play4Fun Network platform with another cutting-edge casino operator like Affinity Gaming which is looking to provide their players a premium gaming experience both inside and outside the walls of a casino. Our comprehensive free-play iGaming solution provides access to the types of games their players enjoy when they visit the casino floor; and through robust marketing capabilities, our platform provides Affinity Gaming the tools its casinos need to engage players between casino trips.”
David Ross, Chief Executive Officer of Affinity Gaming, added, “We are excited to be the first multi-property loyalty program in the country to leverage this premium, free-play, iGaming platform to begin engaging our A-Play™ Club members online with premium casino content they already love on our casino floors, and to expose our properties and brands to a broader audience through new distribution channels in a wider geographic footprint. We selected the Play4Fun Network solution from Williams Interactive after a careful evaluation process as the best platform through which to build a player community engaged with our brand online, providing them exciting virtual gaming experiences where they spend time off our casino floors. We look forward to leveraging the platform’s turn-key marketing functionality to provide our players the friendly, personalized attention our casinos are known for to provide them compelling reasons to visit us again.”
Edidin concluded, “We believe our Play4Fun Network platform, when live, will provide Affinity Gaming the necessary great iGaming content and digital marketing functionality they need to establish themselves as a key destination in their player’s evolving online preferences, allowing them to build an engaged online player community their twelve land-based casinos can leverage to maximize their benefits from the ongoing convergence between offline and online casino entertainment.”
About WMS and Williams Interactive
WMS Industries Inc. is a leading supplier of innovative gaming entertainment products and services worldwide. The Company designs, develops, manufactures, distributes and markets casino games and gaming machines, video lottery terminals and interactive gaming products and services.
Williams Interactive is a global provider of premium platforms, products and services for the iGaming industry, from the white-label Play4Fun Network where real-money wagering is not yet allowed, to the build and operation of white-label online casinos in legalized real-money wagering jurisdictions. The company possesses a robust portfolio of proven WMS Gaming slot themes including Gold Fish®, Super Jackpot Party, Zeus™ and The Wizard of Oz™ and game engines such as Colossal Reels™, Money Burst® and G+® Deluxe already popular with internet casino patrons across Europe.
More information on WMS can be found at www.wms.com. More on Williams Interactive can be found at www.williamsinteractive.com, and on the Company’s YouTube™ or LinkedIn™ channels.
About Affinity Gaming
Affinity Gaming is a diversified casino gaming company headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Company’s casino operations consist of twelve casinos, six of which are located in Nevada, three in Colorado, two in Missouri and one in Iowa. Additionally, Affinity Gaming provides consulting services under an agreement to support the operations of the Rampart Casino at the JW Marriott Resort in Las Vegas. For more information about Affinity Gaming, please visit its website: www.affinitygaming.com.
WMS Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements concerning our future business performance, strategy, outlook, plans, products and liquidity. Forward-looking statements may be typically identified by such words as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “plan,” “likely,” “believe,” “estimate,” “continue,” “project,” and “intend,” among others. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in our forward-looking statements are reasonable, any or all of our forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Consequently, no forward-looking statements may be guaranteed. We undertake no obligation to update such forward looking statements, all of which are made only as of this date, September 06, 2013. Factors which could cause our actual results to differ from those projected or contemplated in any such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the following factors: (1) there is a risk that the acquisition of WMS (“the acquisition”) pursuant to the recently announced merger agreement with Scientific Games may not be consummated, on a timely basis or otherwise; (2) our business may be disrupted while the acquisition by Scientific Games is pending or if the acquisition is not consummated as our ability to transact business with customers, suppliers and other business partners may be adversely affected; (3) it may be difficult for us to retain and recruit employees in vital areas while the acquisition is pending or if it fails; (4) in the event our recently announced acquisition by Scientific Games is not consummated, the price of our stock may be affected; (5) there could be unexpected costs, charges or expenses resulting from the pending acquisition; (6) in connection with the recent implementation of our enterprise resource planning system, there is the risk of inaccurate data or reporting and significant design errors that could have a negative effect on our operating results and impact our ability to manage our business which could constitute significant deficiencies; (7) delay or refusal by regulators to approve our new gaming platforms, cabinet designs, game themes and related hardware and software; (8) changes in regulations or regulatory interpretations that may adversely affect existing product placements or future placements; (9) an inability to introduce in a timely manner new games and gaming machines that achieve and maintain market acceptance; (10) a decrease in the desire of casino customers to upgrade gaming machines or allot floor space to leased or participation games, resulting in reduced demand for our products; (11) a reduction in capital spending or interruption in payments by casino customers associated with business weakness or economic uncertainty that adversely affects our customers' ability to make purchases or pay; (12) a greater-than-expected demand for operating leases by customers over outright product sales or sales financing leases that shift revenue recognition from a single period to the term of such operating leases; (13) a reduction in play levels of our participation games by casino patrons, whether due to economic conditions or increased placements of competitive product; (14) inability of suppliers of key components to timely meet our requirements to fulfill customer orders; (15) increased pricing or promotional competitive activity that adversely affects our average selling price or product revenues; (16) a failure to obtain and maintain our gaming licenses and regulatory approvals; (17) failure of customers or players to adapt to the new technologies that we introduce in new product concepts; (18) a software anomaly or fraudulent manipulation of our gaming machines and software; (19) a failure to obtain the right to use or an inability to adapt to rapid development of new technologies; (20) an infringement claim seeking to restrict our use of material technologies; (21) risks of doing business in international markets, including political and economic instability, terrorist activity, changes in importation and repatriation regulations such as currently experienced in Argentina, and foreign currency fluctuations; and (22) the unfavorable outcome of any legal proceedings in which we may be involved from time to time. These factors and other factors that could cause actual results to differ from expectations are more fully described under “Item 1. Business”, “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and “Legal Proceedings” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 2012, and our more recent reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Affinity Gaming Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain forward-looking statements, which can be identified by the use of words such as “anticipates,” “intends,” “plans,” “seeks,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects”, “projects,” “may,” “will” or “should” or the negative or other variation of these or similar words, or by discussions of strategy or risks and uncertainties, and similar references to future periods. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions about the industries in which the Company operates. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results or achievements to be materially different from the future results or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those risks and uncertainties described in the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, including under “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.” The Annual Report on Form 10-K can be accessed through the “Corporate Information” section of the Company's website at www.affinitygaming.com. The Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements in response to new information, unforeseen events, changed circumstances or any other occurrence.
