IGT have posted some good figures with an 11% year on year rise in the first quarter of 2013. Many observers may be slightly surprised that a decent amount of that revenue growth has come from its recently purchased social gaming division of DoubleDown Interactive. IGT, better known for it's slots manufacturing and software providing ventures saw social gaming revenues increase by 31% in the quarter. Overall revenues reached $600 million which are up from $541.2 million in the same period last year and as well as the growth from DoubleDown, IGT has also seen growth in the American offline slots machines sales. Patti Hart, CEO of IGT said that, “It demonstrates the strength of our comprehensive strategy – leveraging our core business, broadening the distribution of our premier content, and generating shareholder returns, as we continue to deliver on this strategy, we expect that this will be our fourth consecutive year of double digit growth in adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations." The companies previous results were also impressive with huge 320% year on growth posted in the first quarter in revenues from online operations. The deal to purchase DoubleDown was frowned, even smirked upon by some insiders stating that the price paid at $500 million was way over the top. However DoubleDown has constantly remained on of Facebook's better applications developers and has also been successful in the B2B area with its social gaming offering with more than 20 US casinos offering DoubleDown apps on their websites. Hart continued with, “We remain confident that our investment in DoubleDown will yield long-term shareholder return, well in excess of our cost of capital.” Hart also spoke of the importance of the regulatory process in New Jersey and that it was integral to the companies growth saying, “IGT is well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity, given our proven track record in this business, as well as our experience in social gaming. We firmly believe that our success is aligned with the success of our customers as we enhance their revenues by extending our premier class casino content into their branded environment.”
