iGB Intelligence reports Social Gaming report | Page 11
Part 1 – SOCIAL CASINO
Notable acquisitions in the social casino space
Acquirer
Target
Fee
Feb 2016
GSN Games
Plumbee
Undisclosed
Nov 2015
Imperus Technologies
Akamon Entertainment
US$25m
Sep 2015
Zynga
Rising Tide Games
Undisclosed
Aug 2015
Crown
DGN Games
US$27.5m
Jul 2015
Stride Gaming
InfiAPPS
US$39.2m
Jul 2015
Gaming Realms
Real Networks
US$18m
Jun 2015
AGS
RocketPlay
Undisclosed
Mar 2015
Novomatic
AbZorba Games
Undisclosed
Mar 2015
GSN Games
Idle Gaming
Undisclosed
Dec 2014
Churchill Downs
Big Fish Games
US$885m
Oct 2014
Imperus Technologies
Diwip
US$100m
Jun 2014
Bally Technologies
Dragonplay
US$100m
Feb 2014
GSN Games
Bash Gaming
US$165m
Feb 2014
Caesars Interactive
Pacific Interactive
Undisclosed
Jul 2013
Zynga
Spooky Cool Labs
US$31m
Dec 2012
Caesars Interactive
Buffalo Studios
US$45m
Nov 2012
Aristocrat
Product Madness
US$27m
June 2012
WMS
Phantom EFX
Undisclosed
Jan 2012
IGT
DoubleDown Casino
US$500m
Dec 2011
Caesars Interactive
Playtika
US$103m
Jun 2010
888
Mytopia
US$18m
Source: company reports
Big Fish Games (Big Fish Casino)
Owned by Kentucky-headquartered racetrack and
casino operator Churchill Downs Inc, Big Fish Games
has been producing games for longer than Facebook
has existed. Its social casino title, Big Fish Casino,
which serves up a variety of multiplayer casino
games, is one of the most successful apps in the
space. Bookings climbed 23% in 2015, which was
largely fuelled by a 12% rise in average paying users
and a 10% jump in average bookings per paying user
compared with 2014. Big Fish Games’ revenues, which
include its social casino, totalled US$413.7m in 2015.
Other social casino protagonists include GSN, High
5 Games, SciGames and Playstudios, as well as dozens
of tier-two and tier-three studios.
With social casino’s staggering early growth, the
industry soon began to attract potential suitors. Indeed,
the past five years have seen a flurry of M&A activity
as the sector has matured and consolidated. In total,
there has been about US$2bn-worth of acquisitions
(not including the deals announced for undisclosed
sums). Land-based casino operators and slot machine
manufacturers acquired studios as a means of bridging
the gap between bricks-and-mortar gambling and
interactive gambling for cross-selling purposes, as
well as acquiring users in non-regulated igaming
markets such as the US (only the states of Nevada,
New Jersey and Delaware have regulated online
gambling). Moreover, these acquisitions have helped
to provide a welcome and reliable boost to quarterly
financial results.
Andrew Hughes, co-founder and CEO of AbZorba
Games, as well as co-founder of the International
Social Games Association, says land-based casinos
and equipment manufacturers were bound to enter
the market. “There is always a land-grab opportunity
at the start of any ‘gold rush’. As the cycle moved
forward, it was obvious that traditional bricksand-mortar names would seek to leverage their
brand and knowledge with the new upstarts. So,
iGaming Business Social Media & Mobile Betting Report
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