In this session you will learn about the latest trends and data as it relates to the social casino games industry including: market size, top publishers, revenue by platform, biggest titles, KPIs, marketing expenses, latest M&A activity and sector outlook. A must-attend session for anyone involved or wanting to learn more about the $4B+ social casino games market from one of the industry’s most respected analysts.
1. State of Social Casino Industry
Q2 2017
Adam Krejcik
Principal
Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC
2. Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC is a boutique research & advisory firm focused on servicing the gaming
equipment, technology, and interactive gaming sectors within the global gaming industry. Products
and services include market research, company research, and advisory services designed
specifically for traditional land based & online casino companies, gaming technology providers,
digital & interactive gaming companies, and institutional investors.
• Market Research - proprietary market research offering includes multiple surveys and internally
developed reports that are designed specifically to track key industry and product demand drivers,
operating metrics, market share trends, and technology adoption rates.
• Company Research - company research offering includes the active coverage of all major gaming
equipment and technology providers, as well as social gaming companies.
• Consulting & Advisory Services - consulting & advisory services division provides a wide range of
customized research products and advisory services for both gaming companies and investors
including, but not limited to, M&A advisory, customized surveys, new market analysis, asset
valuation, and competitive landscape analysis.
3. Market Overview
Social Casino Gaming = free-to-play online Poker, Slots, Table Games and Bingo, on desktop and
mobile devices.
Social Casino Gaming
4. Market Size
Growth drivers:
• Proliferation of social networks (i.e. Facebook) that have created massive user bases and connected gamers to create a
more engaging/social experience.
• Growing acceptance of the “Freemium” model – game is free-to-play/download and players use real-money to purchase
virtual currency.
• Adoption of smartphones & tablets has created the largest and fastest growing distribution channel for digital games.
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2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Social Casino Market Size ($Bln)
Desktop Mobile
$1.3bln
$3.8bln
CAGR = 30%
Source: Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC
5. Key Verticals
The social casino market consists of 4 distinct game types, with slots accounting for 79% of revenue
in CY16. Slots have and will likely remain the dominant type of social casino game in the USA and
Australia (two biggest markets) due to a large user base educated in slots.
Game Category Leading Title Leading Company
Slots Slotomania Playtika
Poker Zynga Poker Zynga
Bingo Bingo Blitz Playtika
Table & Other NA NA
Slots
79%
Table Games
1%
Poker
13%
Bingo
7%
Vertical % of Revenues - 2Q17
Source: Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC
6. Key Geographies
The social casino market is predominantly North America (74%), followed by Asia-Pacific (17%), and
Western Europe (7%). The leading players are U.S. focused, with 13 of the 15 top players generating
the majority of their revenue from the U.S.
North America
74%
Asia Pacific
17%
Western Europe
7%
Latin America
1%
Eastern Europe
1%
Middle East &
Africa
0.4%
Social Casino Revenues by Geography Country Top Social Casino Publishers
USA Playtika, SciGames, Double Down
Canada Playtika, SciGames, Double Down
Australia Playtika, Product Madness, Murka
China Tencent, PokerCity, Boyaa
UK Playtika, Zynga, GSN
Germany Playtika, Funstage, Huuuge
Brazil Pipa Studios, Playtika
Russia Playtika, Funstage, KamaGames
Source: Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC
7. Top 10 Social Casino Titles
(2Q17 - $ in millions)
Rank Title Category Publisher Revenue
1 Slotomania Slots Playtika $122
2 DoubleDown Casino Casino DoubleU Games $66
3 Heart of Vegas Slots Product Madness $55
4 House of Fun Slots Playtika $54
5 Jackpot Party Casino Slots SciGames $49
6 Big Fish Casino Casino Big Fish $44
7 Caesars Casino Slots Playtika $41
8 Bingo Blitz Bingo Playtika $38
9 Texas Hold'Em Poker Poker Zynga $36
10 Huuuge Casino Casino Huuuge Games $33
Source: Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC
8. Competitive Landscape
Playtika
26.1%
DoubleU Games*
10.1%
Scientific Games
9.2%
Zynga
9.1%
Aristocrat
7.7%
Churchill Downs
4.5%
Sony/GSN
4.1%
Playstudios
3.3%
Huuuge Games
3.0%
Murka
2.9%
Other
20.0%
Social Casino Market Share - 2Q17 (Mobile & Web)
Source:Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC Notes for Q2 2017:
• Playtika is the largest social casino publisher
with 26.1% market share
• DoubleU Games (now owns Double Down)
is #2 with 9.2% market share, and SciGames
Interactive #3 with 9.1% share.
• Combined, the top-3 three companies
accounted for 44.4% of the total social
casino game market
• top-15 companies accounted for roughly
86% of the total market.
9. Categorizing Key Players
Early movers:
Gaming Equipment Suppliers:
Social gaming companies:
Asia focused:
New incumbents:
10. Categorizing Key Players
Early movers
Key theme: being early on a sector call and successfully executing can pay huge dividends over the long-run.
Gaming Equipment Suppliers
Key theme: Land-based content serves a key competitive advantage due to superior monetization (better
Math), retention (familiarity with certain slot titles)
Social gaming companies
Key theme: acquiring studios with developers / professionals with former real-money gaming experience helps
ensure better math / designs / content leading to increased probability of success.
Asia focused
Key theme: large opportunity for local players who can partner with platform providers (Tencent, Qihoo),
penetrate secondary Android game market, and localized Chinese poker.
New incumbents
Key theme: can still be disruptive if you can find niche i.e. rewards, innovation, social, etc.
13. User Acquisition Trends
The trend is clearly upwards (CPI has roughly tripled since CY13) reflecting increased competition
in the social casino category, flattish DAUs for the casino category, and general price inflation
observed across the entire mobile app ecosystem.
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Mobile CPI - Social Casino
iOS
Android
Source: Bidalgo, Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC
14. User Acquisition Trends
We est. social casino game companies will spend over $1blnn marketing (mostly UA) in CY17.
Most of that money will flow to the big-2 (Facebook & Google), but still a number of smaller
agencies capitalizing on fast growing market.
Est. 80% market share for social casino UA spend Est. 20% market share in UA spend (social casino)
Clear competitive advantage / data & scale Many lack performance sustainability at scale
16. Social Casino M&A Details
• Approx. $8bn worth of M&A transactions over the past 5-years in
social casino gaming, incl. mega-$4.4bn sale of Playtika to Chinese
consortium and $825M DoubleU/DoubleDown deal.
• There has been considerable amount of consolidation over the past 5-
years resulting in a “top-heavy” industry and now very few private
companies with meaningful scale.
17. Social Casino M&A Details
Key factors that typically impact valuation:
• Revenue, growth rates, and diversification
• Profitability & scale
• Talent, R&D, and Platform (front & backend)
• Mobile vs. Web revenue mix
• Geographic revenue concentration
• Existing game portfolio and pipeline
• KPIs = DAUs, monetization (ARPDAU, ARPMUP), retention (D1, D7, D30), paying
player conversion rates (DAUP/DAU, MAUP/MUU), LTV, cohort data & trends