Aristocrat and Light & Wonder settle Dragon Train lawsuit for $127.5M

Gaming giants Aristocrat Leisure and Light & Wonder have reached a settlement covering all lawsuits in Australia and the U.S. tied to Light & Wonder’s Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon slot games.

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 agreement, they did confirm a few important points.

Light & Wonder will pay Aristocrat $127.5 million to settle the claims over the alleged misuse of Aristocrat’s intellectual property.

Light & Wonder shares soar 25%+ on the open after settling with Aristocrat for $190m. That's $2b+ in market share gain for $190m cash settlement. Must have been industrial scale theft they got away with as investors expected the worst: https://t.co/gVD8qGb7EM

— Stephen Mayne (@MayneReport) January 11, 2026

The company also acknowledged in a press release that “certain Aristocrat math information was used in connection with the development of both Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon.” As part of the deal, Light & Wonder has agreed to completely stop selling and promoting both games worldwide, and to do its best to pull any machines already out in the field.

It also won’t use any of Aristocrat’s mathematical models or copyrighted material that were at the center of the lawsuit, and it will permanently destroy any documents that contain that information.

The two companies have also set up confidential processes to deal with any possible use of Aristocrat’s math in some of Light & Wonder’s existing “Hold & Spin” games and titles that are still in development. That includes games whose math models had previously been reviewed by the court during the U.S. case.

In return, Aristocrat will drop all of its legal claims against Light & Wonder in both Australia and the United States.

Both companies said they recognise the importance of protecting intellectual property in the gaming industry, acknowledging “the significant investment and innovation that goes into game design and development including the complex and confidential underlying math and the need to ensure protection of those valuable, proprietary assets.”

So, Light & Wonder has effectively admitted it stole Aristocrat's intellectual property to make poker machines that could be as devastating and addictive as what the global leader does. Very insightful when gambling predators fight https://t.co/OemswHs8A4

— Stephen Mayne (@MayneReport) January 11, 2026

Aristocrat CEO and Managing Director Trevor Croker said the settlement shows just how seriously the company takes protecting its intellectual property. “Aristocrat welcomes fair competition but will always robustly defend and enforce its intellectual property rights. As an ideas and innovation company our intellectual property is vital to our ongoing success.

“We are committed to protecting the great work of our dedicated creative and technical teams. We welcome this positive outcome, which includes significant financial compensation and follows the decisive action we took to ensure the preservation of Aristocrat’s valuable intellectual property assets. This decisive action included securing a preliminary injunction in September 2024, at which time the court recognised that Light & Wonder was able to develop Dragon Train by using Aristocrat’s valuable trade secrets and without investing the equivalent time and money.”

Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson said the company was pleased to see the dispute resolved and stressed its ongoing commitment to compliance and innovation. “Light & Wonder is pleased to resolve this matter and move forward. We are firmly committed to doing business the right way – respecting our competitors’ intellectual property rights while protecting our own rights. This matter arose when a former employee inappropriately used certain Aristocrat math without our knowledge and in direct violation of our policies. Upon discovery, we took immediate action and have since implemented strengthened processes aimed at preventing similar issues in the future.

“This settlement protects the interests of our customers, employees, and shareholders, and allows us to continue our focus on developing and delivering the market-leading content our customers expect—without distraction or disruption.”

Background to the Light & Wonder and Aristocrat settlement

The legal fight kicked off in June 2024, when Aristocrat sued Light & Wonder in the U.S., claiming the Dragon Train games were built using its proprietary math models and copyrighted game features. A few months later, in September, a federal court in Nevada sided with Aristocrat and issued a preliminary injunction, stopping Dragon Train from being sold or distributed in the U.S. after ruling it was “extremely likely” that trade secrets had been misused.

Then in April 2025, the dispute widened to also cover Light & Wonder’s Jewel of the Dragon series. Analysts at Macquarie reported that Jewel of the Dragon had been drawn into the litigation due to similarities with Aristocrat’s Dragon Link games, including “identical jackpot layouts, logos, and bonus features such as the Hold and Spin mechanic.”

Macquarie pointed out that Jewel of the Dragon had a much smaller footprint than Dragon Train, which had already rolled out more than 10,000 machines in Australia alone. Because of that, the bank said the financial hit from Jewel of the Dragon was likely to be fairly limited.

Then, in October 2025, the case took another turn when a federal court in Nevada approved Aristocrat’s renewed request to review the mathematical models behind certain 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 argument today and granted Aristocrat’s renewed motion to obtain discovery of math 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 with the Court’s ruling, we remain confident, based on the expert review we previously disclosed, that there is no evidence of Aristocrat math being used in any commercially released games other than Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon.”

The company also warned in court filings that disclosure of its internal game design and mathematical models could cause significant commercial harm, stating that “even a ‘glimpse’ into business and development strategies could harm L&W’s ‘competitive standing.’”

The settlement finally wraps up 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 put on hold.

Featured image: Aristocrat / Light & Wonder

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