Penn National Gaming acquires Rocket Games
The Berks County-based casino company is expanding its presence in the social gaming industry.
US.- Penn National Gaming, headquartered in Wyomissing, announced that it has acquired San Francisco-based Rocket Games Inc. for approximately €54 million.
Penn National President and CEO Timothy J. Wilmott said: “Penn National’s accretive acquisition of Rocket highlights our ongoing strategic initiative to acquire emerging-growth platforms that complement, and allow us to leverage, our core regional gaming operations and database of over three million active customers.”
In the spring, Penn National launched Hollywood Slots, a mobile social casino game that can be downloaded as a smartphone app. That app incorporates elements of Penn National’s Hollywood brand and allows users to collect free bonuses, invite friends to play via Facebook and compete in tournaments.
“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,” he commented.
Wilmott said growth in areas such as social gaming has been a priority since the company spun off its real estate assets into Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. in 2013. Rocket features a library with more than 50 social casino games, including Viva Slots Las Vegas, Downtown Deluxe Slots, Triple Double Slots and Vegas Jackpot Casino.
Bill Gelpi, CEO of Rocket, said that its team is delighted to join the Penn National family and leverage its expertise and nationwide reach to take their game development capabilities and company growth to the next level. ”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,” he added.
