IGT profits boosted by social
IGT profits

151% Growth in Social Revenue Drives IGT Profits

International Game Technology, better known simply as IGT, have posted a 9% growth in revenue for the 2013 fiscal year, as their highly popular social and mobile casinos shot up in popularity. Indeed, social gaming revenue was up by an incredible 151%, reaching $219 million, almost a tenth of the gambling giant’s total revenue.

With revenue growing to $2.3 billion, the gambling giant is certainly riding high on the crest of the online gambling wave, and with the US just about to get their own real money mobile casino games, that bubble looks highly unlikely to burst any time soon. It could, however, prove problematic for social gambling companies.

With real money mobile casino gambling on its way, it’s hard to see how the freemium social casino model can survive within the traditional gambling marketplace. Indeed, a lot of the popularity of social slots come from the social gaming market – a market that is worth far less per player than the general gambling market.

For now, however, IGT are on the rise, and their CEO Patti Hart believes their strategy is paying off: “We continue to drive significant revenue and earnings per share growth through the successful execution of our strategy and disciplined approach to capital allocation. Our goal, as always, is to maximize our returns to shareholders through targeted share repurchases, consistent dividends and robust earnings growth.”