In a gambit as audacious as the gameplay on its luminous screens, the “Dragon Train” series of slot machines from Light & Wonder faced a formidable obstacle as a U.S. court deftly pulled the lever, shuttering sales and leases, and in the balance, dangling the company’s prospects of a projected $70 million in adjusted EBITDA. This schism in the gaming industry unspools a narrative more tangled than the winning lines on a One-Armed Bandit.
Within the ornately decorated casinos, where fortune is both sought and squandered, the familiar glow of Light & Wonder’s “Dragon Train” slots now flickers with uncertainty. The ruling, emerging from the legal forges of the US District Court for the District of Nevada, bestowed upon the Australian company Aristocrat Technologies the boon of a preliminary injunction. Therein lies the rub: this dragon’s hoard of revenue is no longer up for grabs, and the tussle over intellectual property rights with a rival’s “Dragon Link” machines has forged a battle over Australian terrain, where gaming titans clash for dominion.
While Light & Wonder’s shares, having plunged in the wake of judicial pronouncements, clawed back a scant 1%, the company’s strategists pivot towards the courts, seeking clarity, and perhaps, a legal spell to undo the binding of “Dragon Train”. Yet, the wider world of investors and gamblers alike remains riveted as Light & Wonder posits an unyielding front, reasserting its 2025 EBITDA forecast of a staggering $1.4 billion, with the “Dragon Train” representing but a modest portion of less than 5%.
Analysts, those soothsayers of the bourses, meditate upon the valuation of Light & Wonder’s shares. The wisdom of Macquarie’s Chad Beynon graces a new report. Despite the mercurial lift-and-drop of the company’s financial prospects—akin to the highs and lows felt at the roll of dice or the spin of a wheel—Beynon maintains an ‘outperform’ rating. But he cautions, the path ahead is devoid of immediate milestones that may quicken the stock’s heartbeat.
Beyond the tumult with Aristocrat, Light & Wonder parries on other fronts, brandishing its legal armaments against allegations brought forth by Evolution concerning contested elements of game design. Like a hand hidden in the depths of a gambler’s sleeve, these suits lurk, questionable as to whether they will alter the game or fold into oblivion.
Even as “Dragon Train” reels have spun their tales of fortune to a rapt Australian audience, the slot series’ enchantment is tarnished by the specter of conflict. A saga that promised Light & Wonder a greater claim in the land down under now finds itself a chess piece, in a game where every move is fraught with potential boon or bane.
The heart of the matter, as distilled by Beynon, regards the trial by fire that “Dragon Train” must endure. With an installation base of some 2,000 gaming operation installs, and a treasure trove generating upwards of $30 million in AEBITDA, added to outright sales that ring to the tune of approximately $40 million EBITDA, the stakes are dizzyingly high. Should Aristocrat’s claims triumph, they may not seek the gold but rather to see “Dragon Train” banished from the kingdom altogether.
So spins the slots of fortune, where every outcome is poised on wheels of chance, with “Dragon Train” caught in the throes of a gamble bigger than any jackpot it could ever yield.
