DoubleDown Interactive to purchase German social casino developer WHOW Games
DoubleDown Interactive is buying WHOW Games GmbH, a social casino developer headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, from Azerion Tech Holding for €55m.
An additional earn-out payment of up to €10m, payable to Azerion at €5 million annually, is contingent upon WHOW Games meeting certain performance targets during each of the first and second year following the closing date. The acquisition will be financed through DoubleDown’s cash reserves and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2025.
DoubleDown intends to leverage WHOW Games’ proven expertise in the Europe market and partner-driven business model alongside its own operational strength, marketing capabilities, and extensive gaming content to pursue growth opportunities in Europe, particularly in Germany.
The deal will provide a strong presence in the European social casino market, particularly in Germany with 2024 revenue of €41.8m. It will provide a diversified portfolio of social casino apps including proprietary brands such as MyJackpot and Lounge777 as well as third-party labeled social casino offerings. It also presents synergy opportunities with DoubleDown through leveraging operational expertise, marketing, game content, and development resources to drive growth in the European social casino market.
According to research from Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, LLC, the European social casino market grew in 2023 and 2024 as compared to the overall market which has entered a mature stage. WHOW Games offers a versatile portfolio of social casino apps with proprietary brands such as MyJackpot and Lounge777 as well as third-party labeled social casino offerings including Merkur24 through strategic licensing agreements with prominent global brick and mortar casino companies.
In Keuk Kim, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said: “This acquisition marks a significant step toward increasing our competitiveness in the growing German social casino market. Leveraging our combined operational expertise and enhanced scale, we aim to unlock valuable synergies. We are delighted to welcome the WHOW Games team to DoubleDown and look forward to working collaboratively on initiatives to drive growth across the business.”
Giovanni Valerio Valeriota, the Chief Executive Officer of WHOW Games, commented: “We are excited to begin this new chapter as part of the DoubleDown family. Their deep expertise in gaming makes them a natural fit for WHOW Games, and we believe that this partnership will accelerate our growth and innovation. I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Azerion, whose support and strategic guidance during our time together has been instrumental in shaping WHOW Games into the strong and dynamic company it is today.”
