Light & Wonder rallies after agreeing to $190m Aristocrat payout
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More news: Light & Wonder shares jumped in early trade after the company agreed to pay rival gambling group Aristocrat Leisure $190 million, acknowledging that "certain Aristocrat math information" was used in the development of its Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon poker machines.
Shares of Light and Wonder were up 16.5% to $180.21 at 10:56am AEDT.
Light & Wonder to pay Aristocrat Leisure $190m to settle legal claims
The news: Light & Wonder has agreed to pay rival gambling group Aristocrat Leisure $190 million to settle litigation in Australia and the US following claims of misappropriation and infringement of intellectual property.
The context: Light & Wonder has acknowledged that "certain Aristocrat math information" was used in the development of its Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon poker machines.
Light & Wonder has agreed to permanently cease commercialisation of those games globally, and to remove existing installations.
It also agreed not to make any further use of the Aristocrat math information and copyright works at issue in the litigation, and to permanently destroy all documents reflecting that information.
Light & Wonder and Aristocrat have agreed to confidential procedures for identifying and resolving any issues concerning the use of the Aristocrat math in future.
Dragon Train lead developer Emma Charles, who previously worked at Aristocrat, parted with Light & Wonder in late 2024 after the US District Court of Nevada granted Aristocrat a preliminary injunction and ordered the removal of the gaming machines in North America.
What they said: "Aristocrat welcomes fair competition but will always robustly defend and enforce its intellectual property rights," said Aristocrat CEO and managing director Trevor Croker.
"We welcome this positive outcome, which includes significant financial compensation and follows the decisive action we took to ensure the preservation of Aristocrat's valuable intellectual property assets."
Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson commented: "Light & Wonder is pleased to resolve this matter and move forward ... This matter arose when a former employee inappropriately used certain Aristocrat math without our knowledge and in direct violation of our policies.
"Upon discovery, we took immediate action and have since implemented strengthened processes aimed at preventing similar issues in the future."
The source: ASX
