Caesar’s Interactive rules social casino games again in Q3 — but its revenue doesn’t grow

Caesar’s Interactive Entertainment held its position as the No. 1 social casino gaming publisher in the third quarter, according to market research firm Eilers Research. But overall revenue in the sector was flat in quarter.

Growth in the mobile and tablet sector wasn’t able to offset a 7 percent decline in Facebook social casino game revenues. During the quarter, Caesar’s launched Caesar’s Slots and World Series of Poker (previously licensed to Electronic Arts). Slotmania, the marquee title for Caesar’s, saw its revenue fall during the quarter. It’s not clear if this was a result of a shift in marketing spending to the new titles or fatigue with the mainstay game. Overall, Caesar’s has 15 percent of the market.

The data captures the top-grossing social casino games on Facebook, iOS, and Google Play, with revenue estimated for each major title and publisher. Social casino games include free-to-play poker, slots, table games, and bingo.

Eilers said a significant amount of growth has occurred on Facebook and mobile, with numerous high-profile merger and acquisition deals. That interest has been stoked since 2011 at the prospect of the U.S. permiting real-money online gambling on a state-by-state basis.

International Game Technology, operator of DoubleDown Casino, surpassed Zynga during the quarter to become the second-largest social casino game publisher with 13.6 percent market share. DoubleDown increased revenues 5 percent thanks to growth on both Facebook and mobile apps.

Zynga saw another quarter of double-digit revenue declines as Texas Hold’Em Poker (both Facebook and mobile version) continued to lose market share. Zynga also ceased operation of Zynga Slingo in late August after Real Networks bought Slingo. Meanwhile, Zynga’s Rich! Casino Slots, developed by Zynga’s Spooky Cool Labs, saw a promising start on Facebook. Zynga now has 11.5 percent of the market.

Big Fish Games’ Big Fish Casino is still the largest stand-alone social casino app on mobile and it generated an estimated $35.1 million in revenues in the quarter. Big Fish has 7.4 percent of the market.

WMS’ Jackpot Party Casino was one of the fastest-growing social casino games this quarter. WMS has 4.9 percent. Smaller firms account for the rest of the market.