David Lucchese and Marcus Prater have been honored with the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers’ (AGEM) 2026 Memorial Awards, with Lucchese receiving the Jens Halle Award for Commercial Gaming Professionalism and Prater the Peter Mead Award for Gaming Media & Communications.
AGEM created this annual awards program to honour the lasting impact of Jens Halle and Peter Mead, with recipients formally recognised each year at the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas. This year’s awards ceremony will take place at an exclusive event on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 30.
David Lucchese (left), a gaming industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience across sales, operations and executive leadership, has held key roles at Bally, Casino Data Systems, Aristocrat and Global Cash Access. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President at Everi, leading sales and marketing, overseeing strategy for its interactive division, and playing a key role in Apollo Global Management’s 2025 acquisition of Everi and IGT. Since 2015, he has also served as President and a board member of AGEM.
AGEM Board of Directors Chair Ryan Comstock, who also serves as Chief Executive Officer at Ainsworth Game Technology, said, “Dave Lucchese is someone who epitomizes what AGEM wishes to honor with this award, through his sense of humanity in a competitive business, his willingness to go the extra mile and his longstanding dedication to the health of our industry, among his many qualities as an executive. He has remained a reliable friend to countless colleagues, co-workers, competitors and customers in the gaming industry throughout his career. As we turn to this next decade of our annual AGEM Memorial Awards, I am so proud that we can celebrate the contributions and career of Dave in this small way.”
Marcus Prater (right) brings nearly three decades of experience across casino operations and gaming manufacturing. After beginning his career in marketing with Ameristar, Sigma Game and Bally Gaming, he transitioned from AGEM board involvement to become Executive Director in 2008. He led the organisation’s transformation into a globally recognised trade association and strengthened the influence of gaming suppliers worldwide until 2022.
AGEM President & CEO Daron Dorsey added, “AGEM is not where it is today without Marcus Prater. What started as a relatively small group of companies forming a trade association, AGEM became a global organization that found its voice through Marcus’s leadership and established long-term relationships that remain in place today. Our industry, and AGEM, are both stronger today due to seeds Marcus helped plant and grow and we will continue to benefit from those endeavors well into the future. We are so happy to recognize Marcus with this year’s Peter Mead Award.”
Past recipients of the Jens Halle Award include Len Ainsworth, Rick Meitzler, Gavin Isaacs, Tom Nieman, Robert “Bob” McMonigle, Sebastian Salat, Roy Student, Bob Manz, Steve Sutherland and Eric Fisher, while previous Peter Mead Award winners include Howard Stutz, Roger Gros, Frank Legato, Dave Palermo, David Orrick, Alan Feldman, Frank Fantini, Victor Rocha, Lori Nelson-Kraft and Rick Velotta.
Halle, a longtime Bally and Novomatic executive in Europe, most recently served as CEO of Merkur Gaming before his passing, while Mead was the founder and publisher of Casino Enterprise Management magazine.
Nominees are selected based on criteria reflecting the defining qualities of Halle and Mead. The Jens Halle Award recognises at least 10 years of experience in the global gaming supplier sector, alongside professionalism, international outlook, attention to detail, integrity, and dedication to the industry. The Peter Mead Award honours at least 10 years in gaming media or communications, emphasising high-quality reporting, strong industry relationships, independent thinking and innovation.
