Zitro USA: Discovering America

Zitro continues to spread its footprint to new commercial and tribal gaming markets

Zitro USA is right on schedule.

Not long after Johnny Ortiz, founder of Zitro, tapped Bally and Scientific Games veteran Derik Mooberry to take over as CEO of Zitro USA in 2021, Mooberry developed a plan to spread Zitro’s U.S. footprint via tribal markets and select commercial jurisdictions on the way to obtaining Nevada licensing.

The quality of the games was never in question. Zitro already dominated slot markets in all of Latin America. Building on that success, the company has focused on understanding the distinct preferences of U.S. slot players through extensive research conducted by the company’s development teams around the world. These insights have helped shape content specifically for the U.S. market.

“We’re now in 27 states, over 1,600 machines,” Mooberry says. “We’ve been growing rapidly. By July, we had already earned more revenue than we did all last year. We have games live in some key markets—especially Atlantic City, where we have games at the Hard Rock and at Ocean casinos. We’ve got games in Philadelphia as well, so we’re reaching some of the key East Coast markets.”

In each of the past two years, Zitro launched a new cabinet at the Global Gaming Expo. In 2024, it was the Concept cabinet; last year, Zitro launched the Fantasy cabinet, featuring bright, colorful lighting and a sculpted look.

Both cabinets are performing and selling, so Zitro is focusing this year on new content for these two main cabinet lines. Zitro also has specialized in producing eye-catching sign packages to merchandise its games.

“The hardware we have speaks for itself in terms of success,” Mooberry says. “Fantasy’s been a far greater hit than we could have ever imagined. It’s been a big success, and for quite a few months was the No. 1 portrait slant in the industry. The Concept cabinet continues to be a workhorse for us. We’re deploying both equally—60 percent-40 percent Fantasy to Concept, but both cabinets are equally selling well because they’re two completely different libraries.”

Mooberry says content will be shown on both new cabinets, including some games that also work on the Glare cabinet line. “We’re going to have a whole host of games that will run on some of these legacy cabinets. We think that’s an important part of our offering.”

At G2E, Zitro will display 109 machines, representing 24 game families. “For us, a family of games usually has two to four sub-themes underneath,” says Mooberry. “These aren’t just graphical clones, though. They are actually different math models. We’re going to have some new historical horse racing content as well.”

Zitro is just entering the HHR market, partnering with Ainsworth to port games to HHR using the platform developed by Ainsworth. “We expect to have HHR games live soon and will be expanding into several new markets with this product,” Mooberry says. “We’re excited about it. It’s a good opportunity for us.”

Fantasy Concepts

Zitro’s G2E display will include several new releases on each of its newest cabinets, Fantasy and Concept. Featured games on the Fantasy include Legendary Hammer, Tails on Rails and Wild Origins.

Legendary Hammer is a three-pot game with intense graphics communicating each of three pot enhancements—-Lightning, Thunder and Storm, displayed as pots of gems that pile up toward the top of the monitor.

One or more of the pots trigger a main Bonus Link hold-and-spin feature, beginning on a three-by-five reel array with two locked rows above. Reaching thresholds in the number of cash symbols collected unlocks each of the top two rows—usually with some cash-on-reels symbols already in place.

During the Bonus Link feature, the Lightning enhancement causes lightning bolts to fly to random locked cash awards and boost the values. Each time the feature appears, cash-on-reels awards can be boosted with several zaps. Jackpot symbols also can be zapped, with lower-level jackpots splitting into two awards.

The Hammer pot causes the hammer to descend to multiply random cash values. The Storm pot sends a storm across the screen to add random cash-on-reels awards.

 “Legendary Hammer is actually a mix of two successful games we’d done in the past, Legendary Sword and Mighty Hammer,” Mooberry says. “We debuted Legendary Sword two years ago on the Concept cabinet, and it’s been a mainstay for us all over the world. Mighty Hammer was on top of the Latin America charts for years. We merged the two feature sets together.”

Also featured on the Fantasy cabinet is Tails on Rails, featuring an elaborate graphics package depicting bonuses represented by the Train Station and the Bank, each able to trigger a main hold-and-spin event with unique extras. During the primary game, a train randomly crosses above the reels and dumps wild symbols onto the screen.

The hold-and-spin feature includes three train symbols, each with a different value—a long train, a short train and a gold train. It begins on a three-by-four grid and can expand to eight-by-four as link symbols unlock rows.

Train symbols throw values into tunnels on each side of the reels, to be awarded at the end of the feature. Symbols marked with three stars or four stars triple or quadruple cash awards.

If the Bank bonus is active, a train comes through and the bank collects credit values from all its cars, awarding them to the player.

There also is a free-game feature, triggered with three to five scatters, awarding six, 10 or 20 spins, with the train adding high-value symbols, wilds, and accumulator charges.

“This game was designed exclusively for Fantasy,” says Mooberry. “This will be the showcase when you walk into our booth. There’s a lot going on within the game. It is different than other train-style games out there.”

Another featured game on the Fantasy cabinet is Wild Origins, which includes enhancements both to free games and a Bonus Link feature. During free spins, lion symbols pay instantly and change to wild symbols, and dragon symbols throw wild symbols to the reels. In the hold-and-spin feature, an up arrow expands the reel set by one row.

There is a nested secondary hold-and-spin feature within the main Bonus Link feature. The Fire Bonus includes jackpot filler symbols on the top display. Filling each meter with two, three or four jackpot symbols returns that jackpot, and multiple jackpots can be won within the feature.

One other game on the Fantasy cabinet, Khepri’s Reelic, will be unveiled at the show.

Concept Fantasies

Zitro will release several new titles on its Concept cabinet at the show. Highlights include Penguin Party (base games Polar and Tropical) which features four cute penguin characters as the collection pots, enhancing a Bonus Link hold-and-spin event.

Among the penguin-pots, Big Wave expands the reel set from four-by-five to eight-by-five for the Bonus Link feature. Multiplier adds 2X, 3X, 4X and 5X frames to the hold-and-spin grid. Any cash symbols landing in the frames are multiplied. Twin splits cash symbols in two. Lifesaver extends the feature with another three spins after three spins without a cash symbol.

Any can trigger the Bonus Link feature, but any of the other pot enhancements can be added during the feature.

Also featured on Concept is Clover Paddy, a three-pot game steeped in leprechauns, clovers, and pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. In the primary game, the main leprechaun character randomly appears to throw wild symbols to the reels.

Enhancements to the Bonus Link hold-and-spin feature include a leprechaun hat that expands the array by one row, multipliers that stick above reels to increase cash-on-reels awards on every spin, and a Jackpot Feature that awards one of the jackpots in a pick-three bonus.

A rainbow symbol in the Bonus Link feature unlocks a secondary bonus feature after the main feature. The player gets three free spins to fill credit spots on a rainbow mirror and receives the accumulated award or, if filling all spots, a “Rainbow Jackpot” progressive.

Jin Ken Express is another featured game on the Concept cabinet.

During a free-spin feature, cash-on-reels symbols are collected and paid after every spin. Depending on how many of the train/pots are active, the free spins include unique bonus features. Randomly, a Phoenix swoops down to add cash symbols. Monkeys appear to unlock “double collect” on random symbols, which can advance to 3X and 4X applied to the awards.

“The monkey doubles the symbol. The dragon feature gives you extra rows, and the tiger gives you extra spins,” Mooberry explains. “You end up with this extended bonus reel set, and a split symbol collects on every pay. The dragon can randomly throw down increases to any of the coins. Again, it collects and pays after each spin, which is unique.”

Also on the Concept is Funny Bunnies, another three-pot game previewed at the Indian Gaming Tradeshow in March; and other titles including Hammy Heist, Legendary Sword II, Spell Realm, Kakusei, Stack Universe, Willy & Wallas, Empress of Jewels, Thousand Lanterns and more.

All the new content is fueling fast growth for Zitro in the U.S., but the supplier remains in its dominant position in Latin American markets. “When you look globally, we’re the indisputable leader in Latin America and other key markets,” says Mooberry. “We have the No. 1 GGR game, hold most of the top core index ranks, and achieve the highest average performance index of any supplier in these markets.

Those markets will be the first to experience another vertical for Zitro, online gaming. Zitro Digital has launched a full slot portfolio online in Latin America, which it plans to duplicate in the U.S. “It’s a very fast-growing digital division, with revenue and profit up pretty significantly,” Mooberry says. “We’re working on deploying in the rest of the Latin markets first. You’ll see a dedicated area for digital in our booth.”

One example of Zitro maturing in the U.S. market is that it recently joined the American Gaming Association. “We’d always been a member of AGEM, the equipment manufacturers association, but never the AGA,” Mooberry says. “We felt we’re getting big enough now that we need to be a part of that story as well.”

Zitro’s theme for this year’s G2E exhibit is “Serious About Fun.”

“Every year, we ask ourselves how we can continue expanding our offer in ways that create more value for operators—through greater variety, innovation, and even more opportunities to engage their players,” Mooberry says. “This year’s showcase reflects the depth of our portfolio, the momentum behind both Fantasy and Concept, and the incredible work our teams have put into bringing it all together.

“When operators visit our booth, I want them to see a company that’s investing in the future, listening to its customers, and constantly finding new ways to help them succeed. That’s what ‘Serious About Fun’ means to us. We take the work seriously so our customers—and their players—can simply enjoy the results.”