Slot machine developer Aruze selling assets to 2 Las Vegas companies

The operations and assets of Aruze Gaming America — a Las Vegas-based slot machine developer closing next month — will be sold to two separate companies in pending acquisitions announced this week.

Slot manufacturer Play Synergy announced it expects to acquire Aruze’s slot operations, including land-based assets and online gaming. The Las Vegas-based Play Synergy said the “strategic move” will give it control of the related sales, service, support and operations of Aruze’s slot route and operations. It bid $7 million at auction, according to bankruptcy filings.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas-based automated table games developer Interblock USA expects to purchase Aruze’s table game assets for its Roll to Win Craps game. It bid $14 million for the product line at auction, bankruptcy filings show.

The transactions are not yet finalized and are still subject to court and regulatory approval, but Play Synergy expects its deal to close in the next 30 days, it said in a Monday news release.

Play Synergy said the pending acquisition would provide employment opportunities to the 100 Aruze employees expected to be laid off when the business closes in August, though the company didn’t identify how many it would hire.

Frank Feng, president of Play Synergy, said he thought coordination from his company, Aruze and other industry members would minimize the closure’s impact on their employees.

“Aruze, Play Synergy, and all other stakeholders in the process have worked exceptionally well together to provide the vast majority of Aruze team members with new employment opportunities,” Feng said in a statement. “This along with interest from others in the industry has had the result of minimizing the disruption to those impacted and their families.”

John Connelly, global CEO of Interblock, said the company hopes to bring the acquisition’s results to market by the end of 2023.

“Aruze Gaming provides us with a new level of diversity we feel will accelerate our vision to make Interblock synonymous with table game technology,” Connelly said in a Thursday news release. “As we continue to differentiate ourselves in the gaming industry, this acquisition empowers us to offer a broader range of high-quality, innovative gaming solutions to our valued partners in both a traditional and online offering.”

Aruze’s closure was first reported last week. The company behind Go Go Claw and Rock Paper Scissors slot machines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February. Company leadership said the action was because of a $27.4 million garnishment judgment against the company related to court action around the company’s sole shareholder, Japanese businessman and former Wynn Resorts investor Kazuo Okada.

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.