{"id":48639,"date":"2017-04-18T12:00:28","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=48639"},"modified":"2017-04-18T12:14:28","modified_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:14:28","slug":"igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"IGT to Sell Double Down Social Casino to DoubleU Games in $825 Million Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><b><\/b><i> <\/i>Multinational slot and lottery giant IGT has announced the sale of its social casino subsidiary Double Down to South Korean games developer DoubleU Games in a deal worth $825 million.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_48640\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-48640\" data-style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-48640\" src=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"IGT sells Double Down \" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault-142x107.jpg 142w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault-147x110.jpg 147w, https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><figcaption  id=\"caption-attachment-48640\"class=\"text-description\">IGT is to sell Double Down Casino for $825 million, having acquired the firm in 2012 for $500 million. It will remain active in the social casino sphere, however, working closely in partnership with Double Down\u2019s new owner DoubleU. (Image: Double Down Casino)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">The sale will mark the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two companies, as they enter into a game development, distribution and services agreement that will see them collaborate to enhance \u201cplayer experiences\u201d within gambling and social gaming.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">DoubleU Games will also be able to offer IGT\u2019s extensive casino game library on its combined social casino platforms, in exchange for ongoing royalties to IGT.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>Social Gaming Explosion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cAfter several years of strong, organic growth and increasingly attractive valuation levels, the time is right for us to maximise the value of this asset for our shareholders,\u201d said Marco Sala, CEO of IGT in an update to investors. \u201cWe will continue participating in the growth of the social casino market through our multi-year, strategic partnership with\u00a0DoubleU Games.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"main-blockquote\">\n<p class=\"p1\"><strong>\u00a0Ga-Ram Kim, CEO of\u00a0DoubleU Games, meanwhile, praised the formation of a \u201cunique and value-accretive partnership\u201d which imbued him with confidence about his company\u2019s\u00a0future as a \u201cglobal leader in social casino.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"p1\">IGT acquired Double Down in 2012 for $500 million, the year, incidentally, DoubleU was founded. This was the height of the social gaming explosion and the Double Down social casino suite was, at the time, the most popular social casino on Facebook and the fourth most popular Facebook game overall.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"p1\"><b>Caesars Cashes In<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">A year earlier, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/caesars-awarded-critical-five-week-shield-from-13-billion-in-lawsuits\">Caesars<\/a> Interactive Entertainment had raised eyebrows by acquiring Playtika, a small Israeli start-up with just 10 employees, for $90 million, with the head of Caesars Interactive Entertainment, Mitch Garber, declaring that Caesars\u2019 long-term ambition to become &#8220;the number one in casino and social games on Facebook.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">Under Garber\u2019s stewardship, Playtika did just that, supplanting Double Down as the world\u2019s most popular social casino. Last year Caesars sold <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/playtika-goes-to-chinese-in-massive-caesars-sell-off\">Playtika<\/a> to a Chinese consortium for an extraordinary $4.4 billion, a $4.31 billion return on investment. It was a sum that helped Caesars move its chief operating unit out of bankruptcy, and this week Garber was rewarded with a $210 million pay package. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 \u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p3\">IGT\u2019s ROI on might not be quite so outstanding, but, like Caesars IGT has eye-popping debts, currently standing at about $7 billion. The company said it would use the proceeds from the sale for <span class=\"s1\">debt reduction, as well as general corporate purposes. IGT said it expects the transaction to be completed by Q2 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Multinational slot and lottery giant IGT has announced the sale of its social casino subsidiary Double Down to South Korean games developer DoubleU Games in a deal worth $825 million. The sale will mark the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two companies, as they enter into a game development, distribution and services agreement [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":48640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10,19,20],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>IGT to Sell Double Down Social Casino to DoubleU Games in $825 Million Deal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"IGT announces $825 million sale of Double Down to South Korean games developer DoubleU\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IGT to Sell Double Down Social Casino to DoubleU Games in $825 Million Deal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IGT announces $825 million sale of Double Down to South Korean games developer DoubleU\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-04-18T19:00:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-18T19:14:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/\",\"name\":\"IGT to Sell Double Down Social Casino to DoubleU Games in $825 Million Deal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-04-18T19:00:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-18T19:14:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"IGT announces $825 million sale of Double Down to South Korean games developer DoubleU\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/igt-sell-double-social-casino-doubleu-games-825-million-deal\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/hqdefault.jpg\",\"width\":480,\"height\":360,\"caption\":\"IGT is to sell Double Down Casino for $825 million, having acquired the firm in 2012 for $500 million. It will remain active in the social casino sphere, however, working closely in partnership with Double Down\u2019s new owner DoubleU. 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