Anyone who has been to Licensing Expo in Las Vegas has likely noticed the important role licensed properties play in slot machines, with examples on display throughout the casinos. Recent announcements illustrate the importance of licensing in not only slots but all forms of casino gaming, as IPs already established in this sector expand into new gaming formats and new properties continue to enter into the casino-gaming space:
- Hasbro, which has had a presence in casinos for close to 30 years with brands like Monopoly, signed licensing deals with four leading players in the sector in July. They include Aristocrat Technologies, for land-based Monopoly slot machines; Evolution, for Monopoly and Hasbro Games online slots and live casino; Galaxy Gaming, for Monopoly, Yahtzee, and Battleship casino table games; and Bally’s, for Monopoly online casino games. The first new titles will launch in January 2026. Hasbro has a fifth partner, Light & Wonder’s Sciplay, already on board.
- IGT expanded its Wheel of Fortune license—one of the most successful slot themes ever since its launch under license from Sony Pictures Television in 1996—into new formats, including video poker, electronic table games, and video lottery terminals, late last year. It also expanded Wheel’s presence in slots, with 11 new games and three new branded cabinets. Other recent deals for IGT include partnering in March with Galaxy Gaming to bring the latter’s table games into IGT’s online portfolio and late last year with Playtika to extend several of its own slot titles into Playtika’s play-for-free social casino games.
- Aristocrat Gaming, in addition to its new Monopoly license mentioned above, secured the land-based slot machine rights to King Features’ The Phantom, revealed in an announcement last week. This marks a return to casino floors for the character. Aristocrat also announced plans to expand its NFL-branded slot machines, which launched in the U.S. in 2023, into international markets, including Latin America and Europe, and added Warner Bros’ House of The Dragons to its slot portfolio.
- Last month, Fanatics Betting and Gaming signed a licensing agreement to produce and distribute WWE-themed online casino games in the U.S. market. The program debuted with five titles this month, timed to WWE’s SummerSlam event. They are exclusive to the Fanatics Casino platform, which is available in Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. Fanatics already works with WWE on licensed products, memorabilia, e-commerce, and digital content.
- Light & Wonder paired with Warner Bros. and BetMGM to expand its longstanding Wizard of Oz slots program to online gaming. The deal allows BetMGM to distribute Light & Wonder’s Wizard of Oz slots content on its i-gaming platform in the U.S. and Ontario, Canada. Light & Wonder’s new additions to its portfolio of licensed properties over the last couple of years range from Warner Bros.’ Willy Wonka to Squid Game, which brought Netflix into online casino gambling for the first time. As for BetMGM, its other recent deals include securing online casino rights to Family Feud and The Price is Right from Fremantle.
- Magicians Penn & Teller paired with Adventura Gaming and Rio Hotel & Casino—the long-time Las Vegas home of their live performances—to launch the new Penn & Teller Casino Monte in March of this year. The game is billed as the first celebrity-branded table game of its kind. Adventura is a boutique start-up specializing in pairing entertainers with branded casino gaming opportunities.
- Everi Holdings acquired rights from Dimensional Branding Group last fall for Pop-A-Shot and Skee-Ball land-based slot games released this year. It also recently signed a new license with NECA for Chia Pet games, adding to a portfolio that includes properties such as Warner Bros. Discovery’s Shark Week; Zoltar, licensed by Characters Unlimited and Firefly Licensing; the Multi-State Lottery Association’s Powerball brand; and more.
There has been some consolidation in the industry of late. Light & Wonder has made several acquisitions, for example, including a 20% stake in Bang Bang Games in April of this year and the charitable gaming assets of Grover Gaming in February 2025; it assumed full ownership of SciPlay in 2023. Separately, a major deal took place this summer, when both IGT and Everi were purchased by Apollo Global Management and taken private. Both will be merged under the IGT brand, retaining the Everi name for some products and markets. IGT had split its company in 2024, keeping the land-based and online casino businesses under the IGT umbrella and spinning off its lottery operations as Brightstar Lottery.
When it comes to licensing, IP owners increasingly see casino games as part of a broader gaming portfolio along with tabletop games, video games, social games, lottery, and more. All represent vibrant opportunities for licensing and allow licensors to reach consumers of all ages and cultivate loyal fans in an interactive, story-driven, social environment that they engage in regularly. Expect more announcements of new deals in the coming months in advance of Global Gaming Expo 2025 in October.
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