White Hat Studios expands Kong franchise in the US

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The Backstory

Why Kong, why now

White Hat Studios is betting that a bigger, more cohesive intellectual property strategy can turn a hit theme into a sustained growth driver in North America. The company is rolling out a slate of new Kong-branded titles through 2026, timing the first soccer-themed installment to ride the traffic surge expected around the 2026 World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico. That push follows a year in which the studio’s U.S. profile rose sharply, propelled by branded content and a focus on jackpot mechanics that keep players circulating among linked titles.

The groundwork for this moment was laid across product, distribution and geography. White Hat introduced a faster-paying progressive system, Jackpot Royale Express, to complement its original network and boost frequency of bonus events. It also extended reach through major operators and a new retail pathway, giving the company more levers to activate a franchise across online and land-based channels at once. The Kong roadmap underscores how those pieces now fit together: recurring IP, broader placement and jackpot-led engagement designed to compound performance.

Jackpots as a growth engine

White Hat’s move to accelerate jackpot cadence set the stage for franchising popular themes. In April, the studio formally introduced the higher-frequency progressive in the U.S., emphasizing more frequent but smaller wins to sustain play between marquee payouts and promising a rollout tied to licensed brands over the year. That launch was outlined in White Hat launches Jackpot Royale Express, which framed the feature as a complement to the original Jackpot Royale. By shifting the probability of triggering the wheel feature, the Express variant aims to broaden appeal beyond jackpot chasers to mainstream slot users.

The company then deepened the model with a custom, operator-branded version. In a summer tie-up with Caesars Entertainment, White Hat deployed a Caesars-exclusive Jackpot Royale Express across the operator’s online platforms in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia. The bespoke presentation and jackpots integrated directly with Caesars’ digital footprint, while preserving the five-tier progressive structure. White Hat said it plans a dozen Express-linked releases through 2025 with further expansion in 2026, giving the studio a runway to plug recurring IP like Kong into a networked engagement layer that operators already promote.

That jackpot scaffolding is central to the new Kong slate. One of the upcoming titles will be the franchise’s first integration with the Express network, an explicit nod to both monetization and retention. With the soccer-themed entry positioned ahead of a global event that drives casual interest, the jackpot format adds a familiar mechanic that can translate cross-title traffic into longer sessions. For operators, the proposition is an expanded portfolio of recognizable games connected to a rewards loop they are already marketing.

Omnichannel push into U.S. casinos

The Kong expansion also leans on a new distribution lane. White Hat’s entry into U.S. retail gained traction through a partnership with Gaming Arts that opened casino floor access for the first time. As noted in White Hat Studios’ deal with Gaming Arts opens U.S. casino opportunities, the arrangement enables the studio’s online titles to reach land-based venues while porting select Gaming Arts games to digital channels. Early signs were favorable, with Big Catch Bass Fishing performing well and more titles, including a Kong entry, slated to follow.

Bringing the franchise into casinos alongside online platforms supports a true omnichannel cycle: players can encounter the IP on a retail floor, then find connected experiences and jackpots at home, and vice versa. That feedback loop is particularly valuable for branded series where familiarity and feature expectations carry over. As the Kong lineup grows, the ability to synchronize mechanics, jackpots and promotions across channels should help sustain awareness between tentpole releases and seasonal spikes like the World Cup.

Market expansion and state-by-state footing

White Hat’s state footprint has expanded in tandem with its content strategy, giving the Kong franchise more territory to cover. The studio recently added West Virginia through a deal with Delaware North’s Betly app, bringing branded slots, the 7s Fire Blitz series and access to both progressive networks to a jurisdiction where online casinos are legal. The launch, which included a bespoke blackjack title for the operator, was detailed in White Hat announces West Virginia launch with Betly partnership.

That state-by-state buildout sits alongside national operator relationships like Caesars and existing distribution with top-tier platforms. Earlier this year, the company said it ranked among the top three U.S. casino game suppliers by gross gaming revenue, a position that increases the odds that a franchise play will find instant shelf space and promotional backing. As more Kong iterations arrive — including those wired into Jackpot Royale Express — White Hat can seed the series across new and existing markets with localized campaigns and operator-specific features.

Competitive pressures and deal-making undercurrents

The franchise bet comes amid intensifying competition for placement and attention in regulated North America. Aggregators and platform giants are scaling their partner pipelines, making it easier for upstart studios to break through and for incumbents to refresh portfolios quickly. A recent example is the Light & Wonder pact with Red Desert Games to distribute the Australian studio’s titles across the U.S. and Canada via Spark and the Infinity aggregation platform, outlined in Red Desert Games partners with Light & Wonder ahead of North American launch. That sort of distribution breadth raises the bar for engagement features and branded depth, reinforcing why White Hat is anchoring around IP and jackpots that travel.

At the same time, industry consolidation and strategic reviews continue to hover over content suppliers. Reports earlier this year suggested White Hat Gaming, the parent company, had explored a sale of the White Hat Studios development arm, as referenced in the Gaming Arts partnership coverage and the Jackpot Royale Express launch report, though the company has not confirmed a transaction. A stronger, networked franchise that performs across operators and channels could improve optionality, whether to remain independent with a more defensible moat or to command a premium in any future deal.

The stakes for White Hat’s Kong campaign are clear: convert a high-traction theme into a durable brand that can anchor roadmaps, deepen operator ties and cut through a crowded release cycle. By aligning content drops with major events, binding them to recurring jackpot mechanics and placing them where players already are — online and on the floor — the studio is trying to compound engagement over time rather than chase one-off spikes. If the omnichannel and jackpot strategy continues to deliver, Kong’s expansion could serve as a template for how mid-sized suppliers scale IP in a market where distribution is abundant and attention is scarce.