U.S. casino Caesars owned half of Playtika, now it owns the other half

You can almost say U.S. casino giant Caesars and Slotomania maker Playtika were engaged before, and now they've just had their wedding day. (Dawww!) The Israeli social games company is now 100 percent owned by Caesars, which had previously acquired 51 percent of the developer earlier this year in May for between $80 and $90 million, according to Globes.

The majority of social gaming acquisitions this writer has had exposure to usually happen wholesale, and for much cheaper. (Aside from Disney and EA's tendency to make it rain.) According to Globes, the company acquired Playtika with the option to gobble up the rest of it shares within two years, and purchased the rest of its shares for slightly more than their worth back in May.

In other words, Caesars likey. Maybe this had to do with Facebook recently naming Slotomania one of the most popular social games of 2011 on its platform. Well, that and how casino games are looking to be the next big thing on Facebook, with even PopCap (supposedly) and Zynga looking to get in on the action. That said, Caesars has even farther-reaching plans for its new company of 50 staffers and 10 million monthly players.

"2012 is going to be a very big year for Playtika, which will be reflected by, among other things, the hiring of additional employees in Israel. A large portion of the investment that we are making in the company will be for hiring new people," Caesars Interactive CEO Mitch Gerber told Globes. "Next year, we will concentrate on Playtika's competitive advantage and on widening its activity on social networks other than Facebook," Gerber said. "Caesars Interactive and Playtika will be focusing on Asia in the upcoming year."

[Via Inside Social Games]

Do you think this is a smart move for Caesars and Playtika? Do Zynga, EA and other social game makers have anything to worry about entering the casino games world with Caesars around? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.