Ainsworth Game Technology has paid for certainty in Australia, securing access to Aristocrat’s Hold & Spin patents while also picking up long-term rights to a collection of responsible gambling technologies.
A$8.5 Million Buys Some Breathing Room
Ainsworth Game Technology has struck a three-and-a-half-year patent licensing agreement with Aristocrat, ending uncertainty around its use of several Aristocrat-owned gaming features in Australia.
Under the deal, Ainsworth will pay Aristocrat a total of A$8.5 million in instalments. In return, it receives a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to Australian gameplay patents that include Aristocrat’s Hold & Spin family. The rights cover Ainsworth-branded electronic gaming machines as well as its online and mobile products in Australia.
The arrangement also covers manufacturing, servicing, upgrades and game conversions, including work carried out by third parties on Ainsworth’s behalf. That matters because this is not simply permission to launch a few new games. It gives the supplier room to keep supporting machines and content already circulating through the Australian market.
Ainsworth customers, distributors and venues receive pass-through rights as well, allowing them to use, service and resell eligible products supplied during the agreement period without having to navigate the patent issue themselves.
Hold & Spin Is The Main Attraction
Hold & Spin-style mechanics have become a familiar sight on casino floors and in slot libraries, so access to the patent family is commercially useful for Ainsworth.
Rather than trying to design around Aristocrat’s Australian patent position or leave itself exposed to a future dispute, Ainsworth now has permission to incorporate covered features into its own products for the duration of the licence.
The agreement goes both ways. Ainsworth has granted Aristocrat a non-exclusive licence covering certain Ainsworth patents used in Aristocrat-branded products in Australia. The pair have also released each other from claims connected to past use of the licensed patents and agreed not to challenge the patents included in the arrangement.
In plain English, both sides have decided that licences are cheaper and considerably less distracting than lawyers.
Responsible Gambling Tech Comes Without Royalties
One of the more interesting pieces of the deal sits away from the headline Hold & Spin rights.
Aristocrat has given Ainsworth a royalty-free licence to Australian patents covering responsible gambling and safer-play technology. These include digital wallets, account-based play, configurable player limits, self-exclusion systems, activity-based tools, player messaging and emerging AI-enabled approaches.
Those rights also last longer than the main commercial agreement. Rather than ending after three and a half years, the responsible gambling licence continues until the individual patents expire. Aristocrat says the royalty-free structure reflects its view that safer-play technology should be available more widely across the industry.
For players, this side of the agreement may eventually prove more visible than the patent paperwork. If Ainsworth makes broader use of the technology, Australian players could see more account controls, limit-setting options and automated interventions appearing alongside the games themselves.
A Long Patent Fight Set The Table
The deal lands after years of legal wrangling over whether Aristocrat’s computer-implemented gaming inventions qualified for patent protection in Australia.
In September 2025, the Full Court of the Federal Court ruled in Aristocrat’s favour in Aristocrat Technologies Australia Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Patents, finding the relevant claims could qualify as patentable subject matter.
The legal position became firmer in February 2026 when Australia’s High Court refused the Commissioner of Patents special leave to appeal. IP Australia said the Full Federal Court had applied established principles and reached a unanimous conclusion on how the inventions should be characterised.
