A Berks County-based casino company is expanding its presence in the social gaming industry.
Penn National Gaming, headquartered in Wyomissing, announced Thursday that it has acquired San Francisco-based Rocket Games Inc. for approximately $60 million cash.
Rocket Games was founded in 2013, and two years later, the company was recognized by industry experts Eilers & Krejcik Gaming as the fastest-growing social casino company.
"We are excited to acquire a best-in-class social casino game developer in a transaction that greatly expands our in-house capabilities and further diversifies our portfolio of leading gaming entertainment assets," said Chris Sheffield, Penn National's senior vice president and managing director of iGaming. "Rocket's flagship game ‘Viva Slots Vegas’ is mobile casino gaming’s ‘classic slots’ leader, having attracted a growing audience of over 200,000 average daily active players, and we believe Rocket provides Penn National with an effective platform to further cross promote our already successful social and online operations as well as our existing portfolio of regional gaming properties."
In addition to Viva Slots Vegas, Rocket's library of more than 50 social casino games includes Downtown Deluxe Slots, Triple Double Slots and Vegas Jackpot Casino.
The acquisition of Rocket Games comes a year after Penn National launched a pair of its own social casino offerings.
"Based on our internal analysis, a significant segment of Penn National's database customers actively participate in social and online gaming, and we believe there are meaningful operating and revenue synergies between Penn National's operations, our Hollywoodcasino.com and Hollywoodslots.com social casino offerings, and Rocket’s operations that will drive near- and long-term growth for our shareholders," said Timothy J. Wilmott, Penn National's president and CEO.
Rocket Games will continue to be headquartered in San Francisco, and its existing management team, led by founders Bill Gelpi and Steven Jian, will continue to run day-to-day operations.
"The entire Rocket team is delighted to join the Penn National family and leverage their expertise and nationwide reach to take our game development capabilities and company growth to the next level," said Gelpi, Rocket's CEO. "Social and online gaming is an extremely attractive segment of mobile and online gaming, and tying our innovative gaming expertise to a traditional casino operator with a qualified database of customers will create unmatched opportunities for both Rocket Games and Penn National."
Penn National operates 27 gaming and racing facilities in the United States and Canada, including Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County, near Hershey.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|