Hollywood Casino owner PENN Entertainment has announced a partnership deal with Light & Wonder (LNW) to deliver branded live dealer games to its Michigan online casino. Players can now play blackjack and PENN’s unique Lucky Cat Baccarat at exclusive tables featuring the branding of the retail Hollywood Casino at Greektown, one of three Detroit commercial casinos.
The deal marks a first for both companies. LNW has not developed bespoke products for Michigan online casinos before, although its rival Evolution has. Meanwhile, it’s the first time PENN has launched exclusive games connected to its local retail property’s brand—a strategy that its close competitor, Caesars, has recently been pushing quite hard.
In a press release, Jason Birney, Vice President of Operations for PENN Interactive, said:
We are pleased to partner with Light & Wonder to launch these bespoke gaming options for our customers in Michigan. The addition of these games enhances our overall online casino offering in the state and creates important omnichannel touchpoints between our Greektown property and our Hollywood Casino product.
Dana Jackel, VP Commercial & Managing Director of US iGaming at Light & Wonder, added:
This is a very exciting launch for us. We expect that the combination of the Hollywood Casino brand and our premium features will make for a highly relevant and extraordinarily fun gaming experience in North America. We believe PENN Entertainment’s players will love our feature-packed live dealer casino portfolio, and we look forward to enjoying mutual success in Michigan and beyond.
Lucky Cat Baccarat Gets a Live Dealer Version
The new games include Hollywood Casino at Greektown-branded blackjack and a new live-dealer version of Lucky Cat Baccarat, a bespoke game by PENN Game Studios, the operator’s in-house game development wing. According to the press release, the games are highly customizable and have many exclusive features, including Shuffle Master side bets, Shufflestar Continuous Shuffler, and PayMeNow.
Lucky Cat Baccarat uses the same rules as the casino classic but features unique visuals, a Perfect Pairs side bet, and detailed historical statistics (“roads”) for the benefit of superstitious players.
With the partnership, Penn has also integrated popular LNW casino games into its Hollywood Casino in Michigan and theScore Bet Sportsbook & Casino in Ontario, Canada.
Branded Games Are Becoming More Common
Penn’s partnership with LNW marks the latest operator to look to engage players with branded or bespoke games. Caesars has most notably been focusing on this strategy over the past year with its new Caesars Palace pure-play online casino. It has built its bespoke portfolio to over 10 games from various supplier partners. These include a custom-branded live dealer blackjack product from Evolution, several slots titles, and variants of Slingo and LuckyTap.
State revenue reports suggest that Caesars’ strategy is paying off, which may be why PENN is following suit. In July 2023, the month before the casino introduced its first bespoke game, Caesars Cleopatra, it held a 4.5% market share in Michigan. A year later, Caesars Palace had increased its market share to 6.3%. Hollywood’s market share is only 2.3% at the moment, but PENN is in the process of rebuilding its online brands after severing its controversial relationship with Barstool Sports last year. For now, Hollywood Casino is available as a section within the ESPN Bet app, but a standalone casino app is coming next year.
Other companies whose online casinos feature bespoke games tied to their retail properties include BetMGM and Golden Nugget. Smaller retail-to-online operators like Bally Casino and PlayLive! haven’t yet embraced the trend.
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