Australian gaming equipment manufacturer Aristocrat and Las Vegas-based Light & Wonder have announced a $127.5 million settlement in their ongoing intellectual property dispute. The issue began in February 2024, with Aristocrat’s US lawsuit against L&W over Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon.
Light & Wonder agreed to pay Aristocrat A$190 million (US$127.5 million) to resolve claims that the US supplier misappropriated trade secrets and infringed intellectual property tied to Aristocrat’s Dragon Link franchise, according to a filing with the Australian Securities Exchange.
Under the settlement, Light & Wonder acknowledged that certain Aristocrat math information was used in connection with developing Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon and agreed to pull both titles from the market.
“Light & Wonder has agreed to permanently cease commercialization of these games globally and to make best efforts to remove existing installations,” the companies said in a joint statement.
The companies also said Light & Wonder agreed not to make any further use of the Aristocrat math information and “to permanently destroy all documents reflecting that information.”
Court actions in Nevada and Sydney
Aristocrat filed its lawsuit in the US District Court in Nevada on February 26, 2024, alleging Light & Wonder produced games similar to Dragon Link and Lightning Link. In March 2024, Aristocrat said Light & Wonder’s Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon were developed using trade secrets, including proprietary mathematical models associated with Dragon Link.
In September 2024, US District Judge Gloria Navarro granted Aristocrat a preliminary injunction, finding it “extremely likely” that Light & Wonder had misappropriated intellectual property. Wilson said at the time he disagreed with the ruling but complied.
The settlement ends litigation in Nevada and Sydney.
Product removals, install base and distribution
Dragon Train was first released in Australia in 2023 and in the US in March 2024. The game was distributed in tribal casinos in California, Kansas, and Minnesota.
Light & Wonder said it did not suffer long-term damage after the September 2024 removal order because customers replaced the disputed machines with other Light & Wonder games.
“We have approximately 33,000 leased units installed in the market, and Dragon Train represented a mid-single-digit percentage of that install base, or roughly 2,200 units,” Wilson said at the time.
Aristocrat’s complaint also cited former Aristocrat game developers Emma Charles and Lloyd Sefton, who joined Light & Wonder in 2021 and worked on Jewel of the Dragon and Dragon Train. Wilson said Charles and Sefton were no longer with the company.
Procedures for other titles and executive statements
Beyond the two disputed games, the companies said they created confidential procedures to identify and address potential issues involving Aristocrat math information in other Light & Wonder “hold and spin” games already on the market or in development, including titles for which Light & Wonder had been ordered to produce math models in US litigation.
“This matter arose when a former employee inappropriately used certain Aristocrat math without our knowledge and in direct violation of our policies,” Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson said in a statement.
Aristocrat CEO and Managing Director Trevor Croker said his company “welcomes fair competition, but will always robustly defend and enforce its intellectual property rights.”
In earlier filings, Light & Wonder initially described the complaint as “baseless” and sought dismissal, arguing Aristocrat’s math models were publicly available for purchase on platforms including eBay and Facebook and therefore could not qualify as trade secrets.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2026/01/13/117093-light-wonder-to-pay-aristocrat-1275m-to-settle-trade-secrets-case
