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Gaming giants Aristocrat Leisure and Light & Wonder have reached an agreement covering all lawsuits in Australia and the United States related to Light & Wonder’s Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon Slots.
The dispute began when Aristocrat accused Light & Wonder of using its trade secrets and copyrighted material to develop the two games. While the companies aren’t sharing all the details of their deal, they did confirm a few important points.
Light & Wonder will pay Aristocrat $127.5 million to settle claims regarding the alleged misuse of Aristocrat’s intellectual property.
Light & Wonder shares soar more than 25% at open after $190 million deal with Aristocrat. That’s more than $2 billion in market share gain for a $190 million cash settlement. This is undoubtedly a theft on an industrial scale, because investors expected the worst: https://t.co/gVD8qGb7EM
– Stephen Mayne (@MayneReport) January 11, 2026
The company also acknowledged in a press release that “some mathematical information from Aristocrat was used in the development of Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon.” As part of the deal, Light & Wonder agreed to completely stop selling and promoting both games worldwide and to do its best to remove all machines already on the lot.
It will also not use any of Aristocrat’s mathematical models or copyrighted materials that were the focus of the lawsuit, and will permanently destroy any documents containing this information.
The two companies also have confidential processes in place to address any possible use of Aristocrat math in some of Light & Wonder’s existing “Hold & Spin” games and titles still in development. This includes games whose mathematical models had already been examined by the court in the US case.
In exchange, Aristocrat will drop all legal proceedings against Light & Wonder in Australia and the United States.
Both companies said they recognize the importance of protecting intellectual property in the gaming industry, recognizing “the significant investment and innovation that goes into game design and development, including the complex and confidential underlying mathematics and the need to ensure the protection of these valuable and proprietary assets.”
So, Light & Wonder effectively admitted to stealing Aristocrat’s intellectual property to make poker machines that could be as devastating and addictive as what the world leader does. Very insightful when game predators fight https://t.co/OemswHs8A4
– Stephen Mayne (@MayneReport) January 11, 2026
Aristocrat CEO and Managing Director Trevor Croker said the settlement shows how seriously the company takes protecting its intellectual property. “Aristocrat welcomes fair competition, but will always vigorously defend and enforce its intellectual property rights. As an ideas and innovation company, our intellectual property is essential to our continued success.
“We are committed to protecting the excellent work of our dedicated creative and technical teams. We welcome this positive outcome, which includes significant financial compensation and follows the decisive steps we have taken to ensure the preservation of Aristocrat’s valuable intellectual property assets. This decisive action included obtaining a preliminary injunction in September 2024, at which time the court recognized that Light & Wonder was capable of developing Dragon Train using Aristocrat’s valuable trade secrets and without invest so much time and money.
Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson said the company was pleased to see the dispute resolved and highlighted its continued commitment to compliance and innovation. “Light & Wonder is pleased to resolve this issue and move forward. We are firmly committed to doing business the right way – respecting the intellectual property rights of our competitors while protecting our own rights. This issue arose when a former employee inappropriately used some Aristocrat math without our knowledge and in direct violation of our policies. As soon as we discovered this, we took immediate action and have since implemented enhanced processes aimed at preventing similar issues in the future.
“This agreement protects the interests of our customers, employees and shareholders, and allows us to continue to focus on developing and delivering the cutting-edge content our customers expect, without distraction or disruption. »
Light & Wonder and Aristocrat colony background
The legal battle began in June 2024, when Aristocrat sued Light & Wonder in the United Statesclaiming that the Dragon Train games were built using its proprietary mathematical models and copyrighted gameplay features. A few months later, in September, a federal court in Nevada sided with Aristocrat and issued a preliminary injunction, preventing Dragon Train from being sold or distributed in the United States after ruling that it was “extremely likely” that trade secrets had been misused.
Then, in April 2025, the dispute expanded to also cover Light & Wonder’s Jewel of the Dragon series. Macquarie analysts reported that Jewel of the Dragon had been embroiled in the dispute due to similarities to Aristocrat’s Dragon Link games, including “identical jackpot layouts, logos and bonus features such as the Hold and Spin mechanic”.
Macquarie highlighted that Jewel of the Dragon had a much smaller footprint than Dragon Train, which had already deployed more than 10,000 machines in Australia alone. For this reason, the bank said the financial impact of Jewel of the Dragon would likely be quite limited.
Then, in October 2025, the case took another turn when a federal court Nevada approved Aristocrat’s renewed application to review the mathematical models behind some Light & Wonder “Hold & Spin” games released since 2021, the same year former Aristocrat employee Emma Charles joined Light & Wonder.
At the time, Light & Wonder said in a statement: “The Nevada court heard arguments today and granted Aristocrat’s renewed motion for discovery of mathematical models for certain Light & Wonder hold and spin games released since 2021, when Emma Charles joined the company.
“The Court previously denied a similar motion. While we are disappointed by the Court’s decision, we remain convinced, based on the expert review we previously disclosed, that there is no evidence that Aristocrat mathematics is used in commercialized games other than Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon.”
The company also warned in court filings that disclosing its internal game design and mathematical models could cause significant commercial harm, stating that “even ‘insight’ into business and development strategies could harm L&W’s ‘competitive position.’
The settlement finally ends more than a year of legal battles that had put two of Light & Wonder’s biggest slot franchises under a cloud and forced several games to be pulled or suspended.
Featured Image: Aristocrat / Light and Wonder
The position Aristocrat and Light & Wonder settle Dragon Train lawsuit for $127.5 million appeared first on ReadWrite.
