Light & Wonder (LNW) has announced the removal of Jewel of the Dragon slot machines from retail casinos in response to ongoing litigation by rival Aristocrat Gaming. LNW stated that it would “vigorously defend” itself against the new issues the Aristocrat had raised and that it would respond to them by April 11, but is voluntarily pulling Jewel of the Dragon machines in order to spare its customers from any further confusion.
The companies have been in a legal battle for over a year over LNW’s Dragon Train series, which LNW was compelled to remove from the market by a preliminary injunction last fall. The case began in February 2024, when Aristocrat sued, alleging LNW used trade secrets brought by former Aristocrat game mathematician Emma Charles.
Charles had worked for Aristocrat from 2008 to 2017 and helped develop Dragon Link. Aristocrat’s case is based on spreadsheets used to create the mathematical basis for Dragon Train, which the company says are identical to Dragon Links and were stolen by Charles when she left the company. LNW dismissed Charles from her position in the wake of the preliminary injunction.
In September, a Nevada federal court ordered LNW to stop distributing Dragon Train in the US. While LNW disagreed and planned to appeal, it complied and removed the game and its online casino version, Dragon Train Chi Lin Wins from the US market, including from BetMGM Casino, which had been the first to offer it.
LNW has promised that Dragon Train will return with new math. However, there has been no word of a date for the relaunch, and Aristocrat’s amended complaint shows that it will seek to block that from happening.
Aristocrat expands lawsuit to additional games
In its original lawsuit, Aristocrat accused LNW of trade dress and copyright infringement over Jewel of the Dragon. However, in an amended complaint filed on March 14, Aristocrat expanded its claims to include new allegations of trade secret misappropriation, which was the basis for the preliminary injunction against Dragon Train. In response, LNW decided to pull Jewel of the Dragon voluntarily. It has assured investors that the game accounts for less than 1% of its premium installed base in North America. That equates to approximately 150 leased units.
Aristocrat’s latest complaint also asserts that replacement games for Dragon Train, including the social game Dragon Train Grand Central, benefit from trade secret misappropriation, even if they don’t use Aristocrat’s claimed trade secrets. LNW maintains that it has been transparent with courts and Aristocrat in developing the social game. Additionally, it says it provided the plaintiff with the math before launching the game. LNW added that Aristocrat has not disputed the game’s math and is confident the same will be valid for replacement games for Dragon Train.
Aristocrat’s lawsuit also references an unreleased LNW game. The defendant responded that its internal review process identified a potential issue with the game’s early math model, which it revised in the latest versions. However, as a precautionary measure, LNW stopped the development and canceled the game before Aristocrat filed the amendment.
Jewel of the Dragon remain available at online casinos
While LNW plans to remove the Jewel of the Dragon slots, they remain available at several online casinos. For example, BetMGM Casino, DraftKings Casino, Golden Nugget Online Casino, and FanDuel Casino all still offer six games from the series. The online version of Dragon Train also remained temporarily available after the preliminary injunction last fall, so it’s not immediately clear whether LNW intends to pull these online versions. Its announcement only mentioned retail machines.
The company has not responded to Bonus’s request for clarification.
Games in the Jewel of the Dragon series are all Asian-themed slots. They feature a 5×3 reel set, stacked wilds, and two types of bonus features, both involving the jewels. The jewels are cash-on-reel symbols, but some are also scatters.
Any six jewels trigger a typical hold-and-respin round before awarding their combined value. Any three scatter jewels award their value, plus five respins. The value of those scatters then locks above their corresponding reels. Landing additional jewels on those reels during the free spins re-awards that value. The main differences between games in the series are minor tweaks to this feature.
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