Did you know that the roots of Aristocrat Leisure lead to dental products? That’s quite far back in history, and today the company is one of the leading casino producers in the world. The size of the company speaks for itself, with thousands of employees and a presence in hundreds of locations from New Zealand to China, India, most of Europe, and across the Atlantic in the USA and down to Latin America, this is a truly global gaming company.

We should make it clear here that Aristocrat has historically been a land-based producer. In fact, when looking at their past internet hasn’t even existed for most of it. At the same time, the company has had plenty of time to grow and explore different parts of the area of gaming and gambling. In recent years the company has really doubled down on online casinos, even if land-based gaming remains their bread and butter.

Aristocrat Casinos

Australia, New Zealand, and the USA have been the traditional hot spots for Aristocrat, though they do have a presence in hundreds of other jurisdictions too. This doesn’t mean they are present in every country in the world, as a country can have several different jurisdictions set up. They are however perhaps the second biggest slot terminal and cabinet producer in the world, so their games can be found in pretty much all the important casinos and countries.

The company entered online casino markets relatively late. This isn’t surprising at all given that the traditional casino and cabinet locations still remain the more important market for them. In the last few years, there’s been a considerable change in all this, with Aristocrat acquiring other online casino gaming companies, and considerably expanding their online slot games. Not only in quantity, but in quality as well. If you’re not familiar with the games now is your chance to get to know them in detail. But first, let’s take a look at the history of the company, from the early days to modern times.

The Era of Len Ainsworth

Leonard “Len” Ainsworth was born in the early 1920s, and a few decades later he inherited his father’s company. At the time, this operation was mostly a hobby of his father’s to produce dental equipment. Len took the hobby to the next level, starting to produce dental equipment on an industrial scale. However, fate soon took the young company in a different direction. A chance meeting with an acquaintance introduced poker machines to Len, who decided to start manufacturing them instead. This is how Aristocrat Leisure was born in 1953.

As you can see, the company has been there almost from the beginning. The very first slot machines were built half a century earlier, but in many ways, the whole industry was in its infancy. The first electronic slot, also known as video slots, wouldn’t be made until a few decades later. For Aristocrat this happened in 1979. It quickly led to the expansion of business, with European and American locations becoming ever more important sectors for the company.

This expansion and development would continue well into the 1990s with new gaming machines, new slots, new cabinets, and even electronic table games and other products rolled out on a steady basis. At the same time, the company kept on expanding its customer base, adding its machines to casinos, gaming halls and kiosks. By now, Aristocrat was one of the biggest casino gaming companies in the world, and this is where the ear of Len Ainsworth ends. As the legend tells, the man quit the business due to health issues, distributing his ownership amongst family members. Soon after, in 1996, the company was floated on the stock market.  

As it would happen, Len Ainsworth’s departure from the company due to health issues was merely temporary, as the man soon after regained good health. Instead of coming back to lead the company, he chose to build another gaming giant known as Ainsworth gaming. But that’s another story.

The Era of Online Casino Gaming

With the company in new hands, it was clearly time to make some new moves. Up until the 2000s the company was set on expanding its business in Asia and the USA, securing licences in both locations. At the same time, they kept tabs on what was happening with online gaming.

It wasn’t really until 2010 that the company decided to start expanding in this direction. Considering that the online casino boom started a good decade earlier, Aristocrat was a relative newcomer to the area. On the other hand, these years were ones of rapid changes and development. In a way, when the company finally entered the online markets it could take advantage of all the latest technologies, such as native support for mobile devices.

And mobile gaming is something the company was very much interested in. Not just when it comes to online casinos, but free-to-play games, social casinos and social gaming. This is something the company has expanded, and it will be interesting to see where this line of product goes in the future. However, what we’re most invested in are the online casino solutions.

It can be said that the company didn’t really go all in with online casinos until relatively late. Sure, their online slots have been available for quite a while but the numbers didn’t start really going up considerably until close to 2020. At the same time, Aristocrat started buying out more and more companies. This includes companies like Plarium, Big Fish Games, and Video Gaming Technologies. In 2021 the company tried to take over Playtech, however, this ultimately failed. The following year the company announced their entry into the online casino business. Presumably, this means that Aristocrat is going to start running its own online casinos. How that plays out remains to be seen. In the meantime, take a look at their plentiful online slots and other casino games.

Aristocrat Casino Games

Today Aristocrat’s online gaming business can be divided into two areas: free-to-play games and online slots. The latter is what we’re interested in, though the former is proving to be quite an interesting area too, especially if you’re into eSports, mobile gaming or social gaming. Though we are not going to go through their mobile games and other products, even a cursory look will reveal that these games have had a significant impact on how the company designs online slots. The trend is similar across all game producers, but Aristocrat has taken it further.

And if you were thinking that a company that is closing in on hundred years in the casino business is stuck in the past you’d be dead wrong. The games offer a surprising array of modern features, and the graphics are definitely next-level. That said, there has been a definite learning curve to get there, and the earlier games do share a lot of attributes with classic slots, and the original terminal or cabinet pokies. If you’re not after that, simply choose some of their latest releases and you’ll get your hands on the latest innovations.

Aristocrat Online Slots

So what do these online slots look like? Are they traditional pokies? Fruit games? Or do they take advantage of the latest trends? Do they look and sound good? Well, the best way for you to find out is to simply check out one of our suggested NZ online casinos that sport slots from Aristocrat.

If we start by looking at the older slots, you’ll notice that the graphical style is somewhat unique. It’s not exactly high-definition, but rather aiming for more of a unique look and style. If we go back a decade, the payline graphics, sound effects, symbols and animations (when they existed) are quite simple. But it doesn’t take too many years to see massive improvements.

However, even if you take a look at the older slots like Queen of the Nile II, Buffalo, Whales of Cash, Lucky 88, or Dream Rose you’ll notice that the big wins have been there since the start. And in the case of Dream Rose, some rather interesting game mechanics too. The return to player percentages in these earlier games are often a tad below what is the industry average of 96%, but the newer slots tend to right this wrong.

Unique Special Features

Over the years Aristocrat has come up with a host of unique features, only found in their games. Some of these originate from land-based slots but work just as well in their online games. The only downside is that the company doesn’t advertise these specials enough, so you end up having to look for them yourself. On the other hand, running into them at random is always a welcome surprise.

One of the first ones of these special is the so-called Lightning Link. This is a specialised system that has added jackpots into a group of games, which have proven to be extremely popular both offline and online. Another closely linked feature is Hold & Spin, a bonus feature that has you spinning over and over again for ever better wins. And though the company usually trust in the basic paylines, they sometimes switch this around so that you are betting on reels instead of individual lines. An interesting change by itself, though once again hard to find.

Branded Slots from Aristocrat

Aristocrat has spent a lot of time building their branded slots. Not all of these have made their way online as of yet, and perhaps that is simply due to the large number of games that use familiar brands. You can find the following games in the mix:

• Billions
• Conan
• Crazy Rich Asians
• Dune
• Farmville
• Game of Thrones
• Mad Max Fury Road
• Madonna
• Motown
• Star Trek
• Tarzan
• Walking Dead 2
• Westworld
• Zorro

…and many more. As you can see, television shows and movies play a big role in branded slots, with a handful of other artists like musicians also making it to the list. Many of these braided slots have received sequels, mostly thanks to their popularity amongst casino players.

Common Features and Wins in Aristocrat Online Slots

Wilds and scatters are obviously the two most common special symbols. They function in their normal fashion: one substituting for other symbols, the other paying scattered wins and launching different bonus features. More often than not, that bonus feature is going to be free spins.

Multipliers, applied to free spins or wilds, tend to be quite common too. With the bonus spins the player can get a choice, opting for more spins at the cost of lower multipliers or vice versa. This option is actually quite common in Aristocrat slots. It’s also something that allows the player to play around a bit with variance. Do you want better chances of scoring wins, or do you want to aim for those top wins that reach ten thousand times your bet?

When it comes to variance, that is how often wins hit the reels, you can find the different options evenly distributed. Low, medium and high variance games are all available. The lowest wins tend to only be a few hundred times your bet, whereas on the higher end the maximum win from a five symbol combo is usually a few thousand times the bet. There’s pretty much everything in between covered, so you as the player get to choose which kind of gaming you’re after this time around.

Aristocrat Bonuses

At the moment you’d be hard pressed to find bonuses and promotions for Aristocrat online slots. This doesn’t mean you wouldn’t be able to use bonus cash on these games, simply that online casinos rarely offer targeted bonuses, such as free spins for Aristocrat slots, and the company itself doesn’t provide networked campaigns.

Now, this might very well change, so you should keep your eyes open and check this page from time to time. Aristocrat is in the process of re-inventing their whole online presence, and this might include coming out with casinos of their own. Certainly, they have made advances in this direction lately, and it will obviously include all sorts of promotions and bonuses.

Aristocrat Conclusion

It’s pretty obvious that we haven’t seen the full potential of Aristocrat at online casinos yet. Equally obvious is the fact that this is the perfect time to get to know the company. Their old classic slots are some of the most iconic in the industry, whereas their newer games show huge promise in understanding exactly what the players are after in the era of modern online casino gaming. At the same time, the company is heavily invested in social gaming, which makes it quite easy for them to draw inspiration and influences outside the traditional sets of casino gaming.

At the same time, their land-based games are definitely worth checking out. And we are definitely waiting for some of the features and specials, like the countless jackpots, to make their way into online casinos. Whichever way you look at this, the future looks pretty interesting when it comes to Aristocrat casinos, and you should definitely stick around to see what they come up with next.

Aristocrat Casinos FAQ

1. Does Aristocrat offer progressive jackpots?

The company has plenty of jackpots available, both fixed and progressive ones. However, these have not quite made their way into the online space as of yet. The tech, slots and popularity are there, and players make million-dollar wins offline all the time. We hope these games make their way into online casinos as soon as possible.

2. Is Aristocrat a safe and secure company?

Is it ever! It would be harder to be any more secure, especially when they have decades upon decades of reputation to uphold. By their own admission, the company’s games are present in over three hundred different jurisdictions around the world. That’s a number few others can match, and certainly something that ensures these games have been tested over and over again.

3. Where can I find bonuses for Aristocrat slots?

Your best bet is to take a look at our suggested NZ casinos that offer Aristocrat online slots as part of their selection. This is pretty much the only way to get your hands on bonus cash and free spins at the moment.

4. Why aren’t all the games available online?

As far as we can tell, the company simply hasn’t seen the online space as important enough. At least until recently. They also seemed to pursue different strategies, such as acquiring companies that have traditionally been strong online and keeping the land-based business separate. This has recently changed, so we expect the selection of Aristocrat online pokies to expand considerably in the coming years.

5. How can I choose the best Aristocrat casino?

We have listed all the best casinos offering Aristocrat games for NZ casino players. Not only this, but we’ve covered all the important details in our reviews. These details will lead you to the best possible casino with all the games you’re after. Take a look!