Dragon Train Game, Derailed by Nevada Judge, Still Available in NC

A Nevada judge ruled against slot machine manufacturer Light & Wonder in late September, preventing future sales of its new Dragon Train game.

As of now, the ruling has not impacted North Carolina casinos, including Harrah’s Cherokee, which offers several Dragon Train games.

One analyst, however, predicts that Dragon Train will be removed from casinos across the US by Oct. 24.

There are 2,000 Dragon Train games in US casinos

North Carolina has three retail casinos, all three operated by Native American tribes. While North Carolina online casinos remain illegal, sweepstakes and social casinos are available for online casino play.

The ruling on Sept. 24 came after Light & Wonder’s (L&W) competitor, Aristocrat Technologies, filed suit, alleging the Dragon Train game was the product of its intellectual property. Aristocrat claimed that L&W used proprietary information modeled after the popular Dragon Link and Lightning Link games, which came from a developer who previously worked with Aristocrat.

Truist Securities analyst Barry Jones said the developer was let go by L&W earlier this week. L&W confirmed it a day later.

L&W faces several consequences after the ruling from Nevada Judge Gloria Navarro. She barred the company from “any continued or planned sale, leasing, or other commercialization of Dragon Train.”

In immediate terms, it will be unable to display the game, which launched in North America in March, at next week’s Global Gaming Expo (G2E) trade show in Las Vegas.

L&W has roughly 2,000 Dragon Train machines installed in the US and Canada.

Dragon Train not pulled from NC casinos just yet

After the ruling, Todd Eilers, principal for Eilers & Krejcik, predicted that L&W would have to replace all iterations of Dragon Train it had sold with other slot titles.

L&W has since removed all Dragon Train content from its website, implying the machines’ days are limited.

A representative of Harrah’s Cherokee told NCSharp on Oct. 3 that multiple Dragon Train games are still operating at the casino.

Jonas predicts L&W will remove all Dragon Train machines from casino floors in the US by Oct. 24, one month after the injunction. Like Eilers, Jonas believes L&W will offer casinos alternative products from its portfolio to replace the Dragon Train machines.

He also expects no major impact to the company from the ruling. L&W predicts it will take just a 5% hit to its EBITDA, despite an initial 22% drop in L&W stock prices after the ruling,

Light & Wonder moves forward

L&W CEO and President Matt Wilson published a video response addressing the issue on Oct. 3. In it, Wilson confirms the designer in question had left the company. He added that the company wants to keep Dragon Train as a part of its long-term strategy and was looking to develop a new version of the game.

Wilson said that only a small part of the game’s design was in question, meaning much of its framework can still translate to an updated version. He also stressed that his team would comply with all orders as it moved forward.

Wilson also confirmed that L&W planned to remove all Dragon Train games from casinos in North America and Australia.

 

Image Credit: Andy Wong / AP Images

About the Author

Hill Kerby

Hill Kerby is a proponent of safe, legal betting in North Carolina, and is grateful to be able to contribute to growing the industry. He has a background in poker, sports, and psychology, all of which he incorporates into his writing.