The Road to Palm Springs
Greg Enell
CEO and co-founder
Double Down Interactive
The convergence of Facebook and online gaming meant opportunity for Greg Enell, a serial entrepreneur who had worked in the early days of online gaming before founding Double Down Interactive in 2008. Greg immediately understood the potential to create an ever-expanding platform for online casual gaming. And with legalized gaming on the horizon, the incentive to start a new business in the online space was even stronger.
The predecessor to Double Down was PickJam LLC, which Greg founded with two other partners. Within three months, PickJam had secured a deal with Publishers Clearing House to develop sweepstakes games. For a year and a half, the joint venture soared and the teams worked together until the contract was over. PickJam then created its own sweepstakes games, the profits of which were saved for their next foray, Double Down.
Raising capital was not easy from 2007 to 2011, but Double Down thrived. In January 2012, International Gaming Technology (IGT) acquired Double Down in a deal that will infuse capital, leverage marketing investments with key brand names (the top 10 best slot machine games) and provide access to 300 virtual casinos. Access to IGT’s extensive intellectual property and content will help accelerate expansion even further and facilitate the release of new games to keep current customers coming back.
Of life, he says: “It is not about how you handle the success, it is about how you jump the ditches.” Clearly, Greg has shown himself to be among the best of the best at doing just that.
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