Bally to purchase social casino firm

y Technologies is to acquire online social casino company Dragonplay Ltd.

The provider will purchase the Israel-based firm for an upfront cash consideration of approximately $51m, plus the amount of net working capital, and approximately $49m in additional earn-out consideration and employee retention over the next 18 months subject to Dragonplay meeting certain financial performance targets.

Launched in 2010, Dragonplay ranks among the 10 top-grossing game developers in the social casino genre with approximately 700,000 daily active users and nearly three million monthly active users across all platforms. For the 12 months ended 31 March 2014, the firm generated over $10m in EBITDA.

Bally expects to close the deal in July, subject to the completion of certain customary closing conditions.

Bally CEO Richard Haddrill said: “We expect this strategic acquisition to help position Bally at the forefront of social casino gaming by leveraging our world class content, including proprietary table games and award-winning video slots, on Dragonplay’s increasingly popular social casino.”

Sharon Tal, Dragonplay CEO, added: “Both companies are committed to providing unique and stimulating content to players across the globe that enjoy playing entertaining casino-style games.”