LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In a one-of-a-kind collaboration that showcases the talents of Las Vegas’ creative community, award-winning mobile game developer PLAYSTUDIOS has recruited five of the city’s most-celebrated artists to help commemorate the launch of its latest app, myVEGAS Bingo. Beginning April 1, 2021, the five local creatives selected for the “Lucky Numbers” campaign expressed their personal visions on giant bingo balls installed in some of The Strip’s most iconic locations.
“myVEGAS Bingo is one of our most distinctive and dynamic games, expanding the world that we created with myVEGAS Slots,” says PLAYSTUDIOS Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Andrew Pascal. “To celebrate its launch, we collaborated with the city’s most inspiring talents – five artists that represent the relentless spirit of Las Vegas. Their diverse styles and backgrounds are a reflection of our gaming portfolio and global community of players.”
Steve Zanella, Chief Commercial Officer of MGM Resorts International, says, “Our creative community is one of Las Vegas’ most valued treasures. Offering a showcase for these memorable works of art is a wonderful way to launch myVEGAS Bingo and celebrate our decade-long partnership with PLAYSTUDIOS.”
The artists, and their corresponding bingo balls, are:
B11 – Ryan Brunty is a Las Vegas-based interdisciplinary artist and founder of Depressed Monsters, LLC, a lifestyle brand and mental health advocacy group whose products are sold at Hot Topic, Zappos, Amazon, Box Lunch, and depressedmonsters.com. Brunty's work focuses on his character Yerman, a self-portrait that saved his life in 2012 after the death of his grandfather. Brunty's mental health journey has been adapted into public speaking engagements and tools in psychotherapist's practices across the country. Mr. Brunty’s bingo ball is located at Mandalay Bay near the valet entrance adjacent to the M Life Rewards desk.
I19 – Jerry Misko's art reflects the soul and spirit of Las Vegas, his hometown, with intoxicating imagery and iconography inspired by memories of late nights and neon lights. His work is frequently in demand among private collectors worldwide and is featured in corporate collections from Saks Fifth Avenue to Cirque du Soleil. His clients, including the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and MTV, have tapped into Misko's talent to enrich and uplift their environments. A conversation, a canvas, and a commission are the first steps toward a visual feast as only Sin City's preeminent muralist can provide. Mr. Misko’s bingo ball is located at The Mirage Volcano lagoon.
N42 – Nancy Good was born in Texas and has lived and worked in Las Vegas since 2011. Her creative pursuits over the past three decades have been heavily influenced by her travels to Australia, Africa, and Vietnam; a childhood residency in Japan; adult life experiences as an artist, photographer, musician, fly-fishing guide, backpacker, and writer; her time as a teacher in Montana, Nevada, California, Tennessee, and Illinois; and her eclectic DNA revealing ancestral connections to cultures the world over. A common thread through Good's work is how she employs materials and tools of modern times while playfully drawing upon the aesthetic conventions of ancient cultures, including symbology and primitive mark-making. Ms. Good’s bingo ball is located on the New York-New York Brooklyn Bridge.
G59 – Miguel Rodriguez was born in Wichita, Kansas and grew up in the city of Leavenworth, alongside the Missouri River, surrounded by green vistas, big skies, old homes, and farms. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute, then moved to Las Vegas in 2001 to pursue his Master of Fine Arts degree from UNLV. He’s lived here ever since. Over the past 19 years, Rodriguez has shown his artworks throughout the Las Vegas Valley. Aside from his ceramic work, he’s created multiple large scale publicly and privately funded sculptures and murals. Currently, he teaches Ceramics and Sculpture at UNLV. His art is always colorful and dynamic, drawing inspiration from science, popular culture, and current events. Mr. Rodriguez’s bingo ball is located on the Excalibur lobby adjacent to the front desk.
O70 – Mary Felker is currently working full-time as an artist in Las Vegas and focusing on depicting the beauty of the desert, the city, and the greater southwestern region. Felker’s art has been showcased throughout Las Vegas, at First Friday and Market in the Alley, and online on her Etsy Shop @MaryOnAdventures. Felker’s artwork has also been featured on the cover of Desert Companion and in Las Vegas Weekly. Ms. Felker’s bingo ball is located on the MGM Grand main lobby adjacent to check in desks.
The myVEGAS Bingo app lets players combine the rush of jackpot-style bingo with an innovative social experience in which they can create and join their own bingo clubs, compete in tournaments, and trade collectible tokens that are won throughout the game. myVEGAS Bingo joins a lineup of PLAYSTUDIOS games that includes myVEGAS Slots, POP! Slots, my KONAMI Slots, and myVEGAS Blackjack; all of which are supported by the groundbreaking playAWARDS loyalty platform that allows players to accumulate loyalty points that can be redeemed for real-world rewards from a growing lineup of travel, leisure, lifestyle, and entertainment brands, including MGM Resorts International, Wolfgang Puck, Maverick Helicopters, Royal Caribbean International, and others.
PLAYSTUDIOS games are available to download free on iOS, Android, and Facebook. For more information on Lucky Numbers, please visit playstudios.com/luckynumbers.
PLAYSTUDIOS recently entered into a merger agreement with Acies Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: ACAC.U, ACAC and ACAC WS) (“Acies”) which, upon closing, will result in the Company becoming a Nasdaq listed company under the ticker symbol “MYPS.”
Link to images & b-roll: https://tinyurl.com/8mm4bat8
About PLAYSTUDIOS
PLAYSTUDIOS is the developer and operator of award-winning free-to-play casual games for mobile and social platforms. The company’s collection of original and published titles is powered by its groundbreaking playAWARDS loyalty marketing platform, which enables players to earn real-world rewards from a portfolio of global entertainment, retail, technology, travel, leisure, and gaming brands across 17 countries and four continents. Founded by a team of veteran gaming, hospitality, and technology entrepreneurs, PLAYSTUDIOS brings together beautifully designed mobile gaming content with an innovative loyalty platform in order to provide its players with an unequaled entertainment experience and its partners with actionable business insights. To learn more about PLAYSTUDIOS, visit playstudios.com.
About MGM Resorts International
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) is an S&P 500® global entertainment company with national and international locations featuring best-in-class hotels and casinos, state-of-the-art meetings and conference spaces, incredible live and theatrical entertainment experiences, and an extensive array of restaurant, nightlife and retail offerings. MGM Resorts creates immersive, iconic experiences through its suite of Las Vegas-inspired brands. The MGM Resorts portfolio encompasses 29 unique hotel and destination gaming offerings in the United States and Macau, including some of the most recognizable resort brands in the industry such as Bellagio, MGM Grand, ARIA and Park MGM. The Company's 50/50 venture, BetMGM, LLC, offers U.S. sports betting and online gaming through market-leading brands, including BetMGM and partypoker. The Company is currently pursuing targeted expansion in Asia through the integrated resort opportunity in Japan. Through its "Focused on What Matters: Embracing Humanity and Protecting the Planet" initiative, MGM Resorts commits to creating a more sustainable future, while striving to make a bigger difference in the lives of its employees, guests, and in the communities where it operates. The global employees of MGM Resorts are proud of their company for being recognized as one of FORTUNE® Magazine's World's Most Admired Companies®. For more information, please visit us at www.mgmresorts.com. Please also connect with us @MGMResortsIntl on Twitter as well as Facebook and Instagram.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company's and Acies’ actual results may differ from their expectations, estimates and projections and consequently, you should not rely on these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Words such as "expect," "estimate," "project," "budget," "forecast," "anticipate," "intend," "plan," "may," "will," "could," "should," "believes," "predicts," "potential," "continue," and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company's and Acies’ expectations with respect to future performance and anticipated financial impacts of the proposed business combination, the satisfaction of the closing conditions to the proposed transaction, the timing of the completion of the proposed transaction, future financial condition and performance of PLAYSTUDIOS and expected financial impacts of the transaction (including future revenue, adjusted EBITDA, pro forma equity value and cash balance), the PIPE transaction, the level of redemptions of Acies’ public stockholders and the products and markets and expected future performance and market opportunities of PLAYSTUDIOS. These forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the expected results. Most of these factors are outside the Company's and Acies’ control and are difficult to predict. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to: (1) the risk that the transaction may not be completed in a timely manner or at all, which may adversely affect the price of Acies’ securities; (2) the risk that the transaction may not be completed by Acies’ business combination deadline and the potential failure to obtain an extension of the business combination deadline if sought by Acies; (3) the failure to satisfy the conditions to the consummation of the transaction, including the approval of the merger agreement by the stockholders of Acies, the satisfaction of the minimum trust account amount following any redemptions by Acies’ public stockholders and the receipt of certain governmental and regulatory approvals; (4) the lack of a third-party valuation in determining whether or not to pursue the proposed transaction; (5) the inability to complete the PIPE transaction; (6) the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transaction on the Company’s business relationships, operating results, and business generally; (7) the ability to maintain the listing of Acies’ securities on a national securities exchange; (8) changes in the competitive and regulated industries in which the Company operates, variations in operating performance across competitors, changes in laws and regulations affecting the Company’s business and changes in the combined capital structure; (9) the ability to implement business plans, forecasts, and other expectations after the completion of the proposed transaction, and identify and realize additional opportunities; (10) costs related to the transaction and the failure to realize anticipated benefits of the transaction or to realize estimated pro forma results and underlying assumptions, including with respect to estimated shareholder; or (11) other risks and uncertainties indicated from time to time in the registration statement containing the proxy statement/prospectus discussed below relating to the proposed business combination, including those under "Risk Factors" therein, and in Acies’ or the Company's other filings with the SEC. The foregoing list of factors is not exclusive, and readers should also refer to those risks that will be included under the header “Risk Factors” in the registration statement on Form S-4 to be filed by Acies with the SEC and those included under the header “Risk Factors” in the final prospectus of Acies related to its initial public offering. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon any forward-looking statements in this press release, which speak only as of the date made. Acies and the Company do not undertake or accept any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements in this press release to reflect any change in its expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.
No Offer or Solicitation
This press release shall not constitute a solicitation of a proxy, consent or authorization with respect to any securities or in respect of the proposed transaction. This press release shall also not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any states or jurisdictions in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Additional Information
In connection with the proposed business combination, Acies intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), which will include a proxy statement/prospectus, that will be both the proxy statement to be distributed to holders of Acies’ common stock in connection with its solicitation of proxies for the vote by Acies’ stockholders with respect to the proposed business combination and other matters as may be described in the registration statement, as well as the prospectus relating to the offer and sale of the securities to be issued in the business combination. After the registration statement is declared effective, Acies will mail a definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents to its stockholders. This document does not contain all the information that should be considered concerning the proposed business combination and is not intended to form the basis of any investment decision or any other decision in respect of the business combination. Acies’ stockholders, the Company’s stockholders and other interested persons are advised to read, when available, the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus included in the registration statement and the amendments thereto and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed in connection with the proposed business combination, as these materials will contain important information about the Company, Acies and the business combination. When available, the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant materials for the proposed business combination will be mailed to stockholders of Acies as of a record date to be established for voting on the proposed business combination. Acies’ stockholders and the Company’s stockholders will also be able to obtain copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed with the SEC, without charge, once available, at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov, or by directing a request to: Acies Acquisition Corp., 1219 Morningside Drive, Suite 110, Manhattan Beach, CA 90266.
Participants in the Solicitation
Acies and PLAYSTUDIOS and their respective directors and officers may be deemed participants in the solicitation of proxies of Acies’ stockholders in connection with the proposed business combination. A list of the names of such directors and executive officers and information regarding their interests in the business combination will be contained in the proxy statement/prospectus when available. You may obtain free copies of these documents as described in the preceding paragraph.
