South Korean gaming major Netmarble Corp. is acquiring whole ownership in world’s third-largest social casino game company for $2.19 billion to reinforce casual game portfolio. Netmarble disclosed on Monday that it would be buying a full stake in Hong Kong-based casino app SpinX Games at $2.19 billion. Shares shot up upon the news, rising 4 percent to 142,500 won as of 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. They ended the day at 134,500 won, down 1.82 percent. SpinX – founded in 2014 – offers free-to-play casino content, including slot machine games such as Cash Frenzy, Lotsa Slots, and Jackpot World. The company is one of fastest growing players in the social casino game industry with 497 billion won in revenue last year. SpinX raised 162.2 billion won in sales in the first quarter ended March and 328.9 billion won in the first six months, up 46 percent from the same period a year ago. SpinX cannot be serviced in Korea as online gambling is banned in Korea. Social casino game is a casual game genre overseas enjoyed by global users along with match-three games. It offers gamers casino games like slot machines, bingo, and poker in online or mobile form with cyber money. The area has high potential for growth in North America and Europe, although it is inaccessible in Korea due to concerns over gambling addiction. Netmarble plans to expand share of its overseas business through the acquisition.
Lee Seung-won, chief executive of Netmarble, said that social casino game genre is one that is steadily growing in the global scene. With one of promising players under its arm, Netmarble would expand casual game lineup on top of its main role-playing game.
