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Light & Wonder agrees to settlement with Aristocrat over Dragon Train slot games
A dispute over game mechanics in Light & Wonder slots has ended with Light & Wonder agreeing to pay Aristocrat Gaming millions and pull games from markets.
Light & Wonder has settled a legal dispute with Aristocrat Gaming regarding use of Aristocrat's intellectual property in several of Light & Wonder's games, including the Dragon Train series. To get Aristocrat to drop its civil lawsuit, Light & Wonder will pull the games in question and pay Aristocrat, among other appeasements.
Dragon Train games to be pulled from global casinos
While Dragon Train slots did not make their way to the best online casinos in the United States, the games have been common at physical casinos that Light & Wonder serviced. That will shortly no longer be the case.
A joint statement from Aristocrat and Light & Wonder confirms that the latter will make every effort "to permanently cease commercialization of these games globally and to make best efforts to remove existing installations." Jewel of the Dragon slots will also be affected.
Furthermore, Light & Wonder will pay Aristocrat $127.5 million, cease use of Aristocrat's trade secrets, and participate in monitoring of production of new products to ensure compliance with the settlement. At the center of this dispute is the crucial component in all online casino games for real money; math.
Lawsuit hinged upon improper use of proprietary calculations
Aristocrat filed complaints against Light & Wonder in 2024, alleging that a former employee shared protected trade secrets with Light & Wonder, and then Light & Wonder used that proprietary information to develop the Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon titles. Light & Wonder dismissed the employee in question but originally maintained that the information in question did not fall under the purview of legally protected trade secrets.
Courts in both Australia and the United States ruled in Aristocrat's favor. However, Light & Wonder maintained appeal options until the announcement of this settlement.
It's unclear whether Light & Wonder will revamp the Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon games with new mechanics. The statement about the settlement does not mention an agreement by Light & Wonder to abandon the franchises, only to not use the portion of the games that Light & Wonder now admits that Aristocrat calculations were used to create.
Revamped versions could mean that players might see the titles become available to play with bonuses like the Golden Nugget Casino promo code offer in the future. While Light & Wonder does not port all of its games to online casinos, it has done so many times.
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This settlement strengthens protections for game developers' intellectual property in Australia and the US. Production of Dragon Train slots with Aristocrat mechanics has now cost Light & Wonder millions of dollars.
