Daron Dorsey

Early in his career, Daron Dorsey was an attorney who represented individual gaming suppliers. He has since taken on a much broader role, first as executive director and then president and CEO of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers.

In 2025, suppliers navigated an increasingly tricky business environment due to rising tariffs and other macroeconomic headwinds. But the AGEM Index stock tracker has been trending steadily upward since 2020. Dorsey spoke with iGaming Business U.S. News Editor Jess Marquez in October, at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.

You’re starting your fourth year as head of AGEM. What’s your mission?

Daron Dorsey: AGEM is the trade association for the global gaming supplier community. It’s there to be a voice on supplier-specific issues.

We’re the B2B supplier side. Our mission is to foster an environment where suppliers can communicate with regulatory authorities, communicate with the public and advocate for issues that are common to all supplier companies, no matter if they’re located in North America, Latin America, Europe, Australia or Asia.

What’s it been like to broaden your scope a little bit?

It’s been enjoyable because I get to advocate for everyone generally rather than one company with one specific set of issues.

I’m a lawyer by trade and was a general counsel at companies, where there might be a more adversarial position based on contractual or intellectual property or competitive issues. Now I get to represent an industry, people and companies that I enjoy being around.

Even though members share a camaraderie as brothers in arms in the supplier world, they’re also competitors. How do you keep it civil?

We try to do things in a consensus-driven environment. From time to time there are commercial or competitive differences within the marketplace, but as AGEM, we step back from that, because without consensus, this is not something our association can take on. Perhaps they’ll have to work through (their problems) in the marketplace. But part of my job is to try to help navigate those issues as best as possible.

Business is cyclical. Things go up and down. But when you look at the AGEM historical index curve, this is a big growth industry.

Over the last 25 years, more and more jurisdictions have seen legal and authorized gaming as an opportunity to provide tax revenue, jobs, workforce development (and funding for) public policy initiatives.

Our suppliers tend to supply all those regulated environments. So when there’s a new operation, there’s a new jurisdiction, there’s a new opportunity.

Let’s get into another tough topic: tariffs. It’s impossible from a manufacturing standpoint not to be affected by them. How are you monitoring the situation and what has been your interaction with members?

There’s no one with a silver-bullet magic solution. They’re managing this on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis rather than month by month or year by year. It continues to be disruptive and uncertain.

And then all companies are treated a little bit differently. They may be supplying and procuring their products in different supply chains crossing different borders. They may have certain functions of manufacturing assembly in one country, then cross another border or manufacture within the U.S. Then you might be exporting that to another place for commercial purposes and hitting the retaliatory piece on the other side for your pricing.

What we’ve tried to do at AGEM is at least keep the conversation alive. Some of our associate members have experts and put on events from time to time to give an overview of all of the deals. Our friends at KPMG have put on a couple of events with us; it’s good to just share that information out there.

The hard part is that we’re not thinking six months, nine months, 12 months down the road. The long-term effect is unclear. No one necessarily knows when things will become more stable and consistent. So no one is making long-term strategic decisions, because things might change again four months from now. Then that might undo something that you do today. And that’s the world they’re living in right now.

Let’s end on something more lighthearted. You’re a big golf guy. Talk to me about the AGEM Golf Classic.

It’s a great thing. Our friends at JCM and the AGA put on a golf classic each year. The beneficiary is the International Center for Responsible Gaming, which funds research into gaming and gaming policy issues. We try to raise a couple hundred thousand dollars a year; I believe this past year it’s gone over $3 million raised toward ICRG.

Not only is it a good cause, but it’s always something people look forward to each year in late spring. It’s a chance for everybody to spend a day together and put down their swords from a competition standpoint.

That money is there, it’s critical and it funds something that is crucial to our industry today, tomorrow and in the years ahead.