Las Vegas-based PlayStudios deal with Murren-led company follows slot machine industry growth pattern
PlayStudios was going to merge with a special purpose acquisition company, but Jim Murren's interest in the company changed the course. PlayStudio has the exclusive social gaming and mobile platform rights to casino properties operated by MGM Resorts. Murrren founded Silicon Games in 1990s and sold it to IGT in 2001. He and Playstudios CEO Andrew Pascal share a vision of growing Play Studios into a larger presence in social games. They are following the same trend as slot machines industry. It's a similar approach followed by Nevada’s slot machine industry, Pascal noted.
PlayStudios will be a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq by the end of the second quarter. Institutional investors, including MGM Resorts, are providing private investment of $250 million. Acies is contributing 89.1 million shares of SPAC’s stock and up to $150 million in cash. PlayStudio shareholders will own 64 percent of company and institutional investors will have 18 percent. Murren will become an active shareholder in Playstudios. He and Pascal have been acquainted for more than two decades.
PlayStudios deal follows slot machine industry growth pattern. DraftKings went public in April. Golden Nugget, Rush Street Interactive and Genius Sports signed on to SPAC deals. Tilman Fertitta announced a $6.6 billion SPac transaction to put his Landry's restaurant chain and five Golden Nines casinos into the public market.
PlayStudios will work with Murren-led company. The social gaming space is crowded with traditional gambling companies and non-casino providers such as Zynga. Aristocrat and its Las Vegas-based subsidiary operate a social games division through the wholly owned Big Fish Games. Scientific Games spun off its social game division into SciPlay. Playtika was acquired by Caesars Entertainment in 2011 and sold for $4.4 billion in 2016.
PlayStudios has a partnership with Konami Gaming for KonamiSlots. PlayStudio acquired Tel Aviv-based game studio Scene53 and launched its Pop! Slots mobile app in 2016.
