LEGENDS OF GAMING
that created the mythical Macondo; and read within the sumptuous imagery aspects that reflect the creative elements of diverse characters armed with touches of Len through periods of reinvention using technology and also, like Merlin, a bit of magic here and there. However, even the genius of
Shakespeare and Garcia Marquez could not create a character like Len Ainsworth, and we must turn to the great man himself for some pointers that can help us to see how legend was created. Whenever we meet, mostly during lapses of work at global industry events, one’s life is enriched with some pearls of wisdom from this superlative guy; so as we near his 90th birthday, we asked him: How does it feel to reach this most significant age?
LEN AINSWORTH: “Quite
frankly, I don’t feel any different; I’m full of energy and new ideas love my work and see no purpose in retiring unless I fail physically or, for that matter, mentally. One can always be smitten with ill fortune but, given that I received a new aortic valve a year ago and it has a 20 year guarantee, I feel good fortune is in my favour at least until now.”
RCM: Very few people are able to propel one company
to the top to be equal among its peers, and perhaps a handful is able to do this in an industry with a relatively limited number of companies like gaming. First Aristocrat and now Ainsworth Game Technology benefit from your skills. Is there a secret to your success? LEN AINSWORTH: “There is no single secret but
rather it is a matter of being fortunate enough to have a creative, inventive streak and a predilection to engineering. “We were fortunate in coming into slot machines when the Australian non-proprietary club industry was in a rapid expansion phase and required slot machines. I learnt a great deal in my first visit to Nevada in 1960 where I immediately recognised that the design of machines that was acceptable to the New South Wales clubs was inadequate for any of the overseas casinos where there were players using every possible method to get past the security of what then were mechanical slot machines. “As a result of my trip to Nevada we designed and
introduced our new “Nevada” model around 1963, it was an immediate success in Nevada and everywhere around the world where slot machines were
permitted.
“I might add that the “Nevada” was a few years ahead of anyone else’s equipment in terms of its technical quality but the coming of hopper pay-out machines late in the 1960s took the gloss off sales until we came up with our own fully electronic machines. These were in fact the first fully electronic machines and led the way for many years. “So, if there is any secret it is that of keeping
technically ahead of the game and that means working with other creative, forward thinking people. In that connection I believe we have Ainsworth Game Technology executives who can match the world’s best.”
RCM: Certainly hard work plays a very important role in
your ethics. I understand that you left medical school to devote your time to the gaming industry, so it must be of medical interest that working long hours helps to keep the doctor at bay. Does any diet practice play a role in your daily life?
LEN AINSWORTH: “When I left medical school it
was to mechanise and expand the manufacturing side of dental supplies and equipment. I came from the times when, if your father said you would be best suited to medicine or whatever you did as father said but I was always of a manufacturing mind from childhood onwards.
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