Newly Public PlayAGS Take its Table Games International
Slot machine-maker PlayAGS made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange Friday, and CEO David Lopez sees opportunity for growth both in the U.S. and abroad.
“We’re actually entering the Philippines in the Latin bingo space right now,” he told Cheddar. “That’s about a 70,000-unit market...Then in Brazil...if a new law goes into effect you’ll see 500,000 or so video bingo machines come online.”
The company, which primarily serves the Native American Market, brought in revenues of $154 million in the first nine months of 2017 and swung to a profit of $13.6 million for that period.
And though the gaming industry has come under pressure from the rise of online and mobile gambling, Lopez says he’s not worried about his casino games getting poached.
“It’s a little bit of a training ground for brick and mortar...If you talk about millennials you think, ‘Hey, when are those millenials going to walk into those casinos and start gambling?’ Well some of it starts on their phone.”
PlayAGS, backed by private equity firm Apollo Investment, sold 10.3 million shares at $16 apiece in its IPO, valuing it at the low end of its expected range at about $550 million.
The stock, which trades under the ticker “AGS”, rose more than 15 percent in its first day of trading.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/playags-rings-nyse-opening-bell-to-celebrate-ipo).
Stocks closed higher on Wall Street as investors grow more convinced the Federal Reserve will keep downshifting the size of its rate hikes and as several major companies prepare to report their latest results.
The number of businesses that see a 50 percent chance or higher of a recession in 2022 has fallen from around two-thirds of respondents in October to just over half this month, according to survey.
With inflationary woes and fears of recession sweeping the U.S., January has racked up the second most job cuts since the start of the pandemic. While losing a job can be daunting, there are steps employees can take to prepare for an uncertain future in their current positions.
The Week's Top Stories is a guided tour through the biggest market stories of the week, from winning stocks to brutal dips to the facts and forecasts generating buzz on Wall Street.
Elon Musk has taken the stand Friday in a shareholder trial in California centering on a 2018 tweet that the billionaire sent about taking Tesla private and the funding secured to do so.
Google parent Alphabet reported quarterly results just shy of Wall Street estimates as the tech giant announced layoffs of about 12,000 workers. Cheddar News breaks down the latest numbers.
