Recently, we have seen plenty of land-based gaming operators get involved in the social casino market. IGT and Aristocrat have already launched their own social gaming apps, and now Crown Resorts plans on going a similar route, as the company is partnering with DGN Games.

Crown Resorts has purchased a 60% stake in DGN Games, a company that is well-known for developing a wide range of social casino titles for mobile devices. Crown will pay $27.5 million for the deal, providing the casino operator with the majority stake in DGN. A further $5 million will be provided to support further growth. DGN is renowned for creating high-quality social casino games for iOS devices.

It ranks as one of the Top 15 mobile casino games developers in the gaming market. Old Vegas Slots is one of DGN Games’ most popular titles. The deal comes shortly after Crown announced its poor financial results in the year to June 2015. At the same time, James Packer stepped down as Chairman of the company, and Crown Resorts stocks have seen a drastic drop in price.

The deal with DGN may give investors a more positive outlook on Crown’s future, but it is too soon to tell. “It’s early days for us, but we think the social gaming space is a relatively high growth market,” says Ken Barton, Chief Financial Officer for Crown Resorts. With DGN Games, Crown Resorts has the ability to create social gaming apps that offer players the chance to play casino games for free while interacting with friends online.

We imagine that the products will be similar to existing social apps from IGT and Aristocrat, like Double Down Casino and Heart of Vegas.

About the Author

George Anderson
Author George, has over 25+ years’ experience in the Pokies and Casinos industry throughout Australia and New Zealand. Loves to research new Pokies games on the block and follows announcements from top industry providers about their upcoming releases. As soon as a new interesting pokie game appears on his radar, George is there to check it out and give you the scoop before anyone else and tell you about all casino sites where can play the latest game. Before this gig, George worked as Pokie game tester, making him an ideal candidate for this genre of work. He is also an animal lover and a proud owner of three dogs.