ITEM 1. BUSINESS
BUSINESS
Unless the context indicates otherwise, references to “Galaxy Gaming, Inc.,” “we,” “us,” “our,” or the “Company,” refer to Galaxy Gaming, Inc., a Nevada corporation (“Galaxy Gaming”).
We are an established global gaming company specializing in the design, development, acquisition, assembly, marketing and licensing of proprietary casino table games and associated technology, platforms and systems for the casino gaming industry. Casinos use our proprietary products and services to enhance their gaming operations and improve their profitability, productivity and security, as well as to offer popular cutting-edge gaming entertainment content and technology to their players. We market our products and services to online casinos worldwide and to land-based casino gaming companies in North America, the Caribbean, Central America, the United Kingdom, Europe and Africa and to cruise ship companies. We license our products and services for use solely in legalized gaming markets. We also license our content and distribute content from other companies to iGaming operators throughout the world.
Products and Services
We have two operating segments which are combined into one reporting segment. In our GG Core operating segment, we license our products to gaming establishments in the physical world (casinos, racinos, cruise ships, etc.) and to providers of gaming devices such as electronic table games (“ETG’s). In our GG Digital operating segment, we license our products to gaming establishments in the virtual world (online casinos and other gaming-related websites).
Proprietary Table Games. Casinos use Proprietary Table Games together with or in lieu of other games in the public domain (e.g. Blackjack, Craps, Roulette, etc.) because of their popularity with players and to increase profitability. Typically, Proprietary Table Games are grouped into two product types referred to as “Side Bets” and “Premium Games.” Side Bets are proprietary features and wagering options typically added to public domain games such as baccarat, pai gow poker, craps and blackjack table games. Examples of our Side Bets include 21+3®, Lucky Ladies® and Bonus Craps. Premium Games are unique stand-alone games with their own set of rules and strategies. Examples of our Premium Games include Heads Up Hold ’em®, High Card Flush®, Cajun Stud® and Three Card Poker®. Generally, Premium Games generate higher revenue per table placement than the Side Bet games.
Enhanced Table Systems. Enhanced Table Systems are electronic enhancements used on casino table games to add to player appeal and to enhance game security. An example in this category is our Bonus Jackpot System (“BJS”), an advanced electronic system installed on gaming tables designed to collect data by detecting player wagers and other game activities. This information is processed and used to improve casino operations by evaluating game play, to improve dealer efficiency and to reward players through the offering of jackpots and other bonusing mechanisms. Typically, the BJS system includes an electronic video display, known as TableVision, which shows game information designed to generate player interest and to promote various aspects of the game. The BJS system can also be used to network numerous gaming tables together into a common system either within a casino or through the interconnection of multiple casinos, which we refer to as our Inter-Casino Link System. Beginning in 2022, we fundamentally redesigned our Enhanced Table Systems. Our new systems utilize off-the-shelf computer hardware and are developed using widely supported programming languages so as to be easily reviewable by the gaming laboratories that certify these types of products for use in casinos. In 2023, we expect to launch our Galaxy Operating System (“gOS”), a platform product to which we can add new functionality as periodic releases without the need to replace the fundamental hardware or software supporting the platform.
iGaming. On August 21, 2020, we completed the acquisition of 100% of the member interests in Progressive Games Partners, LLC (“PGP”). PGP holds the exclusive worldwide rights to a number of games titles (including ours) for relicensing to operators of online gaming systems worldwide. Prior to the acquisition, PGP had been the exclusive distributor of our games to the online gaming sector; by making the acquisition of PGP, we effectively eliminated the distributor fee that PGP charged us, and we now also receive the revenue PGP earns on the content of other licensors (to whom we pay a royalty fee). In many cases, these online operators provide “white label” gaming infrastructure for many separate online casino brands with the result that the content that PGP licenses can appear on hundreds of online gaming sites. PGP’s contracts with online operators prohibit those operators from deploying the content in markets where it is not legal to do so.
Product Strategy. In the physical casino market, we have a “three-dimensional” growth strategy. First, we seek to increase the number of casinos we serve with our games. Second, within a casino, we seek to increase the number of tables on which we have placements. Our current product placements are heavily concentrated around blackjack, and we have developed side bets and other game content to address other table game categories such as baccarat, roulette and craps. Finally, by adding our enhanced systems to tables that already have our content, we can increase the billable units per table. For example, on a blackjack table that has one of our side bets we can add a second side bet and a progressive jackpot for each side bet thereby increasing the billable units for that table from one to four. As of
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December 31, 2022, we served 513 casinos worldwide, had content on 5,083 tables in those casinos and had a total of 7,737 billable units in those casinos.
Our strategy in iGaming is similar in that we seek to have our content on as many online tables as possible. However, the structure of the iGaming business is different in that many of our customers are iGaming platform providers that offer a turnkey online gaming solution to online operators who deploy those online offerings directly to the gaming player. To a lesser extent, we license our content to online operators who have their own platform and serve gaming customers directly. The online analog to a casino is called a “skin” where a skin is a separately branded and marketed URL. Online operators often offer multiple skins targeting different markets and using different themes. Our strategy is 1) to have our content on as many skins as possible and 2) to have as many of our games as possible on each skin. As of December 31, 2022, we had content on over 1,600 skins worldwide and approximately four to six game placements on each of those skins. Finally, we expect that additional states in the U.S. will legalize online gaming, allowing our online clients to offer games to a significantly bigger audience.
Recurring Revenue and Gross Profit
A majority of our clients contract with us to use our products and services on a month-to-month basis with typically a 30–45 day termination notice requirement. We invoice our clients monthly, either in advance for unlimited use or in arrears for actual use, depending on the product or contract terms. Such recurring revenues accounted for substantially all of our total revenues in 2022 and 2021. Our license revenues have few direct costs thereby generating high gross profit margins. We do not report “gross profit” in our statements of operations included in this report. Instead, gross profit would be comparable to “revenues” minus “cost of ancillary products and assembled components,” both of which are presented in our statements of operations. For the game content that we license in from third parties, we pay royalties to game owners whose content we re-license to casino operators. In our physical casino business, those royalties are included in operating expenses. In our iGaming business, those royalties are deducted from gross revenues and we present revenue net of the royalties.
For more information about our revenues, operating income and assets, see “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Financial Information” included in this report.
STRATEGY
Our long-term business strategy focuses on increasing our value to casino clients by offering them enhanced services and support, and by producing innovative products and game play methodologies that their players enjoy. We believe that by increasing the value of our products and services to clients, we can continue to build our recurring revenues in both existing and new markets. To achieve this objective, we employ the following strategies:
•Expand our portfolio of services, products and technologies;
•Increase our per unit revenues by leveraging our Enhanced Table Systems;
•Expand the number of markets we serve;
•Grow our iGaming content and partner base; and
•Promote the use of our game content in adjacent gaming markets.
Expand our portfolio of services, products and technologies. Our strategy is to be an important vendor to casino operators by offering a complete and comprehensive portfolio of services, games, products, systems, technologies and methodologies for casino table games. We continuously develop and/or seek to acquire new proprietary table games to complement our existing offerings and to extend our penetration of proprietary table games on the casino floor. We believe we have a significant opportunity to replicate the success we have had with blackjack side bets by developing content for the other significant public domain casino games of baccarat, roulette and craps.
Increase our revenue per unit by leveraging our Enhanced Table Systems. Our Enhanced Table Systems are placed on tables where we already have our side bet or premium game content deployed. By adding our Enhanced Table Systems, we significantly increase the revenue we earn from that table. Gaming operators deploy the Enhanced Table Systems because they generally increase the win for the casino by an amount that significantly exceeds the cost to license the system from us. Our product strategy includes making Electronic Table Systems that support a multitude of side bets and premium games across several casino game segments (e.g., blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, etc.).
Expand the number of markets we serve. In the past, there were table games markets in North America that we could not serve or in which we could not offer our full suite of products and services. In general, this was because we were not licensed to serve casinos in that market or the license we have limits the products and services we can provide. We believe that the redemption transaction we undertook in 2019 (discussed below in the “Significant Business Developments” section) has helped us with our licensing activities in
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existing and new markets, and will continue to help us, including table games markets outside of the United States. In the current year, we have received new or expanded licenses in 13 jurisdictions in North America, and 3 new iGaming jurisdictions.
Grow our iGaming content and partner base. We have licensed our content to the iGaming segment for several years through our distributor, PGP. In 2020, we acquired PGP in order to improve our financial results from the iGaming segment by eliminating the distribution fee to PGP and by adding the revenue that PGP earns from licensing the content owned by itself and others. The COVID pandemic has resulted in a significant increase in jurisdictions considering legalizing iGaming, in many cases in concert with legalizing sports wagering. We intend to increase our revenues from iGaming in several ways. First, we expect that our existing licensees will see growth in their current markets while adding new markets in the U.S. and elsewhere. Second, we intend to add new licensees in the iGaming segment. And finally, we intend to add to the number of games that we license to both existing and new licensees.
Promote the use of our game content in adjacent gaming markets. We have game content that is well-known and popular in physical casinos and online casinos. One example is the Electronic Table Games (“ETG”) market, which offers table game content on touch-screen video devices. As casinos face rising labor costs, table games can become unprofitable at low bet minimums, and we believe casinos may seek to expand the use of ETGs to address this shortfall. Another example is lotteries (both ticket lotteries and iLotteries), where our well-known game content may attract patrons to lotteries as another way to enjoy it. There may be regulatory restrictions on the use of casino gaming content in certain lottery markets, but the addressable market is large even excluding these markets.
COMPETITION
We compete with several companies that develop and provide proprietary table games, electronic gaming platforms, game enhancements and related services. We believe that the principal competitive factors in our market include products and services that appeal to casinos and players, jurisdictional approvals and a well-developed sales and distribution network.
We believe that our success will depend upon our ability to remain competitive in our field. Competition can be based on price, brand recognition, player appeal and the strength of underlying intellectual property and superior customer service. Larger competitors may have longer operating histories, greater brand recognition, more firmly established supply relationships, superior capital resources, distribution and product inventory than we do. Smaller competitors may be more able to participate in developing and marketing table games, compared to other gaming products, because of the lower cost and complexity associated with the development of these products and a generally less stringent regulatory environment. We compete with others in efforts to obtain or create innovative products, obtain financing, acquire other gaming companies, and license and distribute products. We compete on these bases, as well as on the strength of our sales, service and distribution channels.
Our competitors include, but are not limited to, Light & Wonder, Inc.; International Game Technology; Play AGS, Inc.; TCS/John Huxley; and Masque Publishing. Most of these competitors are larger than we are, have more financial resources than we do, and have more business segments than we do. In addition, we expect additional competitors to emerge in the future. There can be no assurances that we will be able to compete effectively in the future and failure to compete successfully in the market could have a material adverse effect on our business.
SUPPLIERS
We own outright the content for Side Bets and Premium Games and we license games from others; to whom we pay royalty fees when we license those games to others (including in the online gaming sector). We generally have multi-year licensing agreements for this content. With respect to our Enhanced Table Systems, we obtain most of the parts for our products from third-party suppliers, including both off-the-shelf items as well as components manufactured to our specifications. We also assemble a small number of parts in-house that are used both for product assembly and for servicing existing products. We generally perform warehousing, quality control, final assembly and shipping functions from our facilities in Las Vegas, Nevada, although small inventories are maintained, and repairs are performed by our field service employees.
In our iGaming business, we license some of our game content from other providers for re-licensing to online operators along with the content we own outright. We pay royalties to the owners of the content that we license from them.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
We seek to develop and maintain a robust pipeline of new products and services to bring to market. We employ a staff of hardware and software engineers, graphic artists and game developers at our corporate offices to support, improve and upgrade our products and to develop and explore other potential table game products, technologies, methodologies and services. We also will use outside services for research and development from time to time.
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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Our products and the intellectual property associated with them are typically protected by patents, trademarks, copyrights and non-compete agreements. However, there can be no assurance that the steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property will be sufficient. Further, in the United States certain court rulings may make it difficult to enforce patents around the math relating to casino games, which makes us more dependent on copyrights and trademarks for protection. In addition, the laws of some foreign countries do not protect intellectual property to the same extent as the laws of the United States, which could increase the likelihood of infringement. Furthermore, other companies could develop similar or superior products without violating our intellectual property rights. If we resort to legal proceedings to enforce our intellectual property rights, the proceedings could be burdensome, disruptive and expensive, and distract the attention of management, and there can be no assurance that we would prevail.
We have been subject to litigation claiming that we have infringed the rights of others and/or that certain of our patents and other intellectual property are invalid or unenforceable. We have also brought actions against others to protect our rights.
GOVERNMENT REGULATION
We are subject to regulation by governmental authorities in most jurisdictions in which we offer our products. The development and distribution of casino games, gaming equipment, systems technology and related services, as well as the operation of casinos, are all subject to regulation by a variety of federal, state, international, tribal, and local agencies with the majority of oversight provided by individual state gaming control boards. While the regulatory requirements vary by jurisdiction, most require:
•Findings of suitability for the Company, individual officers, directors, key employees and major shareholders;
•Documentation of qualification, including evidence of financial stability;
•Specific product approvals for games and gaming equipment; and
•Licenses, registrations and/or permits.
Gaming regulatory requirements vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and obtaining licenses, registrations, findings of suitability for our officers, directors, and principal stockholders and other required approvals with respect to us, our personnel and our products are time consuming and expensive. Generally, gaming regulatory authorities have broad discretionary powers and may deny applications for or revoke approvals on any basis they deem reasonable. We have approvals that enable us to conduct our business in numerous jurisdictions, subject in each case to the conditions of the particular approvals. These conditions may include limitations as to the type of game or product we may sell or lease, as well as limitations on the type of facility, such as riverboats, and the territory within which we may operate, such as tribal nations. Gaming laws and regulations serve to protect the public interest and ensure gambling related activity is conducted honestly, competitively and free of corruption. Regulatory oversight additionally ensures that the local authorities receive the appropriate amount of gaming tax revenues. As such, our financial systems and reporting functions must demonstrate high levels of detail and integrity.
We also have authorizations with certain Native American tribes throughout the United States that have compacts with the states in which their tribal dominions are located or operate or propose to operate casinos. These tribes generally require suppliers of gaming and gaming-related equipment to obtain authorizations. Gaming on Native American lands within the United States is governed by the Federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (“IGRA”) and specific tribal ordinances and regulations. Class III gaming (table games and slot machines, for example), as defined under IGRA, also requires a Tribal-State Compact, which is a written agreement between a specific tribe and the respective state. This compact authorizes the type of Class III gaming activity and the standards, procedures and controls under which the Class III gaming activity must be conducted. The National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”) has oversight authority over gaming on Native American lands and generally monitors tribal gaming, including the establishment and enforcement of required minimum internal control standards. Each tribe is sovereign and must have a tribal gaming commission or office established to regulate tribal gaming activity to ensure compliance with IGRA, NIGC, and its Tribal-State Compact. We have complied with each of the numerous vendor licensing, specific product approvals and shipping notification requirements imposed by Tribal-State Compacts and enforced by tribal and/or state gaming agencies under IGRA in the Native American lands in which we do business.
The nature of the industry and our worldwide operations make the license application process very time consuming and require extensive resources. We engage legal resources familiar with local customs in certain jurisdictions to assist in keeping us compliant with applicable regulations worldwide. Through this process, we seek to assure both regulators and investors that all our operations maintain the highest levels of integrity and avoid any appearance of impropriety.
We have obtained or applied for all required government licenses, permits, registrations, findings of suitability and approvals necessary to develop and distribute gaming products in all jurisdictions where we directly operate. Although many regulations at each level are similar or overlapping, we must satisfy all conditions individually for each jurisdiction. Additionally, in certain jurisdictions we license our products through distributors authorized to do business in those jurisdictions.
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In addition to what may be required of our officers, board members, key employees and substantial interest holders, any of our stakeholders, including but not limited to investors, may be subject to regulatory requests and suitability findings. Failure to comply with regulatory requirements or obtaining a finding of unsuitability by a regulatory body could result in a substantial or total loss of investment.
In the future, we intend to seek the necessary registrations, licenses, approvals, and findings of suitability for us, our products, and our personnel in other jurisdictions throughout the world. However, we may be unable to obtain such necessary items, or if such items are obtained, may be revoked, suspended, or conditioned. In addition, we may be unable to obtain on a timely basis, or to obtain at all, the necessary approvals of our future products as they are developed, even in those jurisdictions in which we already have existing products licensed or approved. If the necessary registrations are not sought after or the required approvals not received, we may be prohibited from selling our products in that jurisdiction or may be required to sell our products through other licensed entities at a reduced profit.
EMPLOYEES
As of December 31, 2022, we had 42 full-time employees, including executive officers, management personnel, accounting personnel, office staff, sales staff, service technicians and research and development personnel. As needed, we also employ part-time and temporary employees and pay for the services of independent contractors.
RECENT Business Developments
Share Redemption. On May 6, 2019, we redeemed all 23,271,667 shares (approximately 57.3% of the then-outstanding stock) of our common stock held by Triangulum Partners, LLC (“Triangulum”), an entity controlled by Robert B. Saucier (“Saucier”), Galaxy Gaming's founder, and, prior to the redemption, the holder of a majority of our outstanding common stock. Our Articles of Incorporation (the “Articles”) provide that if certain events occur in relation to a stockholder that is required to undergo a gaming suitability review or similar investigative process, we have the option to purchase all or any part of such stockholder's shares at a price per share that is equal to the average closing share price over the thirty calendar days preceding the purchase. The average closing share price over the thirty calendar days preceding the redemption was $1.68 per share.
The consideration owed to Triangulum for the redemption was $39,096,401 (the “Redemption Consideration Obligation”). Litigation between the Company and Triangulum related to the redemption and other matters was settled pursuant to a settlement agreement by a payment from the Company to Triangulum of the Redemption Consideration Obligation on November 15, 2021. See Note 9 to our audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 8 “Financial Statements and Supplementary Financial Information” for further details.