DoubleDown Casino, the social gaming offshoot of gambling device maker International Game Technology (IGT), saw revenue rise 72% to $61m in IGT’s fiscal Q4. DoubleDown’s average bookings per daily active user rose 43% to $0.40, thanks to average number of daily average users rising 20% to 1.7m and monthly average users up 32% to 6.7m. For fiscal 2013 as a whole, DoubleDown’s revenue rose 151% to $219m, representing 9% of IGT’s overall revenue.
IGT CEO Patti Hart described DoubleDown’s revenue as growing “at an incredible pace.” DoubleDown ranked as the third-highest grossing Facebook app in Q4, temporarily grabbing the number-one spot in August. The present quarter is also shaping up well thanks to the debut of Monopoly Plus, which IGT CFO John Vandemore described as IGT’s “most successful game launch ever,” resulting in record bookings and DAUs. Knowing a good thing when she spots it, Hart said IGT would be “redirecting investments from other parts of our business into DoubleDown to continue to accelerate the growth.”
DoubleDown’s numbers outshone IGT’s overall results, which saw Q4 revenue flat at $632m and income from continuing operations drop 30% to $63.5m. Gaming operations revenue fell 6% to $247m due in part to lowered MegaJackpots revenue in North America. Product sales were flat at $312m, while the European-facing real-money online gambling operations of IGT Interactive fell 36% to $11.6m. For fiscal 2013 as a whole, group revenue fell 9% to $2.34b, but net income rose 9% to $272.7m and earnings per share rose 20% to $1.03.
IGT’s next quarterly report might take a hit from that fact an IGT Megabucks slot machine at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas paid out a $12.46m progressive jackpot on Monday. (For the record, IGT holds the record for the all-time top slots payday, a $39.7m pot via a Megabucks machine at the Excalibur in Vegas in 2003.) In October, IGT machines paid out nearly $6m to three different slots players in Iowa and Nevada. So far this calendar year, IGT machines have already made 24 individuals instant millionaires.
