Accel Secures 600 Nevada VGTs in Green Valley Grocery Agreement

Distributed gaming operator Accel Entertainment (NYSE: ACEL) is expanding its Nevada footprint by adding 600 machines through a new agreement with Green Valley Grocery convenience stores.

Chicago-based Accel said its Century Gaming Technologies Nevada landed a new route agreement with the convenience store operator for approximately 600 gaming devices in the Silver State.

Accel Entertainment distributes video gaming terminals (VGTs) to non-casino establishments authorized to host machine-based gaming. The company’s client base primarily consists of licensed venues such as bars, convenience stores, gas stations, taverns, and truck stops.

Financial terms of the Green Valley agreement weren’t disclosed by either party.

Why It Matters

Wall Street remains bullish on Accel, though much of that optimism hinges on the company’s ability to generate revenue outside its home state of Illinois—which, by some estimates, accounts for nearly 75% of the route operator’s total revenue.

That reliance underscores the strategic importance of bolt-on deals like the Green Valley Grocery agreement, which diversify Accel’s geographic footprint. Last December, Accel’s Century Gaming Technologies arm acquired the route business of Dynasty Games in an accretive deal that expanded the operator’s presence in Northern Nevada.

Green Valley Grocery is owned by Anabi Oil, a long-standing partner of Accel. In January, the two companies finalized an agreement establishing Accel as the exclusive gaming partner across all of Anabi’s Rebel Convenience Store locations in Las Vegas.

By the end of the first quarter, Accel operated 19,607 machines across 2,110 Nevada locations, making the Silver State its second-largest market by device count.

Strategic M&A Drive

Accel has maintained an aggressive M&A pace to broaden its geographic reach. Beyond this year’s duo of deals with Anabi Oil, the operator acquired a truck stop casino operator in Louisiana in June. Accel ended the first quarter with nearly 12,200 machines across roughly 1,400 locations in the state.

Analysts view Accel—which holds one of the largest slot machine portfolios in the U.S.—as an overlooked value stock poised for material long-term EBITDA growth.

“We believe ACEL is an under-followed/underappreciated gaming operator, which connects visible free cash flow generation, growth and an undemanding/discounted valuation,” Texas Capital analyst David Bain wrote in a recent note.

“ACEL’s hyper-local, mostly variable cost operations leave it better hedged against an economic downturn than most regional gaming stocks, in our view, while forward sales and EBITDA growth outpaces the group average,” Bain concluded.