The 2025 AAMA Wrap Up

As the year winds to an end, it’s a good time to take stock of the myriad activities AAMA has been involved with these past 11 months.  

To start, we launched our annual new member and renewal drive that resulted in a 33% increase in membership which shows what we’re up to, is getting noticed. 

 In February, 11 AAMA members took valuable time out of their busy schedules to attend a DC Fly In to meet with federal legislative offices and advocate on behalf of our industry.   We targeted a variety of talking points that included:

·       Making the Main Street Tax Credit Permanent.   It now is.

·       Repeal of the Corporate Transparency Act.  Enforcement has been suspended.

·       Understand the Impact Blanket Tariffs have on Small Businesses.  From Main Street store fronts to the family farm, tariffs are having a debilitating impact on small business owners to plan for the future and uncertainty has proven to have a chilling effect on business growth.     

·       Expand the Small Business Health Insurance Tax Credit.  This remains unresolved and is part of the ongoing fight over ACA tax credits.   

·       Pass the Credit Card Competition Act.   The fact VISA and Mastercard agreed to reduce the combined US average credit card interchange fee by 0.1 percent for five years has not satisfied members of congress who want to see bigger discounts on a permanent basis.

We returned to DC in June with our friends from AMOA for two days of meeting with congressional offices along with a product showcase in the Rayburn House Office Building.   A combined 28 AAMA/AMOA members made the trip making it one of the largest groups we’ve had in well over a decade.   Our talking points focused on Taxes, Tariffs, and Credit Card Swipe Fees.  

In March we held the 15th Amusement Expo International in partnership with our friends at AMOA continuing a trend of growth in total attendance, number of exhibitors and total expo footprint.   For the second year in a row, AEI has been recognized by Trade Show Executive Magazine as one of the nation’s “Fastest 50” tradeshows in those three categories, (attendees, number of exhibitors, and size of the tradeshow floor).  And when comparing where we are this many days out from the upcoming 2026 expo to the 2025 show, it’s a trend that appears will continue. 

At the expo we celebrated excellence in achievement presenting awards to the Manufacturer of the Year (Apple Industries), Distributor of the Year (AVS), Supplier of the Year (EMBED), Allied Member of the Year (Bruno’s Arcade), FEC of the Year (Alley Cats – Burleson, TX), Lifetime Achievement Award (Joe Camarota - Alpha Omega Sales) and Amusement Industry Hall of Fame Inductees (Al Simon, Bob Geschine, Faith Guthrie, Frank Happ, George Gomez, George Petro, George Smith, Peter Betti, Rich Babich, Tico Bonomo, and Humpty Dumpty Pinball Machine). 

And we raised a record $64,900 for our charitable foundation through our AEI Honor Roll initiative.   Those donations go directly to charities supporting children and families in need.   

In August, we held our newly reimagined All Access: Annual Meeting in Dallas, TX and the reviews have been nothing short of spectacular.  It attracted over 178 attendees, 108 of which had never attended an AAMA Annual Meeting before, giving credence to the claim that what we’re up to is getting noticed.   It was there we acknowledged those individuals who generously and selflessly contributed their time, energy, and talent to the success of AAMA including the Joe Robbins Award to Brian Glasgow with W.T. Glasgow, Inc. and the Shining Star Award to Adam Kleinhentz with Shaffer Distributing. 

During the Gala Celebration and Charitable Dinner, we proudly acknowledged Joe Camarota with his well-deserved AAMA Lifetime Achievement Award.   The Lifetime Achievement Award Ad Journal raised $206,150 for our charitable foundation allowing us to present donation checks totaling $250,000 to our principal charity partners.  And during that dinner, our Text to Give initiative raised another $34,000 which will further allow our charitable foundation to support worthy organizations helping children and families in need.

And we just capped the year off with another successful IAAPA Expo where exhibitors displayed a wide variety of new games and attractions to eager buyers looking to add these exciting creations to their venues.  IAAPA is an event that solidifies the fact “we” are a part of a much bigger whole; that what we do matters and has a massive and positive impact on communities around the world.   The realization of this should make all of us proud of the products and services we create; we create fun and that’s something the world could use a lot more of right now. 

I want to take a moment to thank our volunteers on the board of directors and committees for your tireless commitment and dedication in helping us accomplish so much good for the association and industry.  From my perspective, I see us at an inflection point launching us on an upward trajectory of sustained growth and relevance within an industry hungry for connections and community.  The New Year is ripe with opportunity for AAMA to expand its presence and influence for our members and deliver on our promise to preserve, protect, and promote our industry by faithfully adhering to our vision statement – “We Make the World More Fun.”  

Play more,

Pete