AGS President and CEO David Lopez has praised the transformation undergone by the US gaming industry over the past two decades.

Speaking to Gambling Insider for its G2E Preview magazine, Lopez reflected on how much the sector has changed ahead of the last G2E of the decade.

That change has been "rather dramatic," according to the AGS CEO, taking US gaming away from its prior image of being "the boys’ club of America."

Lopez tells Gambling Insider: "Now Bally Technologies, Shuffle Master and Scientific Games have all combined into one, that’s opened the door for Incredible Technologies, AGS, Everi Holdings and other smaller companies.

"The more the industry continues to be dynamic and change, the better. Go back 15 years and this industry was the boys’ club of America.

"It’s changed rather dramatically; you’re getting such a wide variety of backgrounds and this industry is more open than it’s ever been before, on all fronts: gender, ethnicity and socioeconomically."

The diversity of US gaming is such Lopez can even see a tribe operating on the Las Vegas Strip in the coming years.

The AGS CEO says: "The last 10 years in the US have been interesting; we’re beginning to see tribal entities move into managing a lot more.

"Now tribes are moving into non-tribal territories to not only manage but co-own or own properties not on sovereign land.

"I wouldn’t be surprised to see a tribe operating right here on the Las Vegas Strip in the next year or two."

The full interview with Lopez will be published in Gambling Insider’s G2E Preview magazine, which will go live in September.