In March 2020, Matt Wilson took a new job as head of Scientific Games’ gaming division, one of the largest slot machine companies in the world. But a few weeks later, his business, and those of all its competitors, came to a screeching halt.
For the next 78 days, casinos across the United States, the world’s largest slot machine market, were shuttered due to the Covid-19 outbreak. Saddled with $9.2 billion in debt, Scientific Games could not afford such a losing streak.
Over the next two years, the Nasdaq-listed company started selling off divisions. In October 2021, Scientific Games sold its lottery business (along with its name), which made up about 40% of its revenue, for $6.1 billion to the Bermuda-based private equity firm Brookfield Business Partners. Then in September 2022, Wilson, who had been promoted to CEO, rechristened the firm Light & Wonder and sold its OpenBet sports wagering firm to Endeavor Group for $800 million.
“We were trying to be world class at 50 different gaming things through the pandemic,” says the 43-year-old Wilson, who previously worked for Light & Wonder’s Australia-based competitor Aristocrat for nearly 16 years. “But we also had a really serious financial situation that needed to be dealt with.”
With its debt now down to $3.8 billion and revenues stabilized at $2.9 billion (last 12 months),Wilson focused on Light & Wonder’s sweet spot: slots, iGaming (digital slot machine games) and social games (free-to-play mobile app versions of its casino games with virtual currency).
“We tried to try to simplify our lives a little bit,” says Wilson from Light & Wonder’s Las Vegas........