Focus on Light & Wonder: A bold, new strategy – and a name to match

April 22, 2022 2:00 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports
April 22, 2022 2:00 PM
  • Rege Behe, CDC Gaming Reports

When Scientific Games sought a new name after the sale of its sports betting and lottery businesses, the Las Vegas-based company wanted the rebranding to be “a reflection of the things that we do,” according to Executive Vice President and Group Gaming Chief Executive Matt Wilson.

The new name had to evoke the company’s status as a leading innovator and creator of games and slot machines. It had to be catchy and insightful. It had to differentiate itself from Scientific Games

Thus, let there be Light … & Wonder.

“It’s highlighting the things we do as an organization,” Wilson says of the new name. “It’s supposed to conjure up this idea that our games emit light if you walk on a gaming floor and look at our slot machines. The light is coming at the player if you look at a digital game on your phone. You’re immersed in light, that’s the light component. And the wonder our players enjoy when experiencing our games. We decided to be bold and ambitious. We want to swing for the fences, we want to be No. 1 in all the categories.”

Light & Wonder debuted March 1 with a celebration at its Las Vegas headquarters, with CEO Barry Cottle making an announcement to company employees, who are now known as Creators.

“Our powerful new strategy required a powerful new identity to distinguish us and our unique offerings and capabilities,” Cottle told Light & Wonder staff. “Our new name and identity are born from our winning strategy to be the leading cross-platform game company and will inspire our people to make great products for our players.”

The divestiture of its sports betting and lottery businesses allows Light & Wonder to focus on three areas: it’s land-based business, including slot machines, table games and systems; its social casino production; and igaming, “which is about leveraging those games and publishing them in a real money gaming capacity,” Wilson says.

“We didn’t necessarily go through this process to rebrand,” he notes. “But once we figured out that lottery and sports betting were better businesses as stand-alone organizations, then it became very clear the name would go with the lottery and we’d have an opportunity to rebrand.”

To bolster its new direction, Light & Wonder has acquired ELK Studios, a European game developer; Lightning Box, a Sydney, Australia- based slot-developer; and Authentic Gaming, provider of premium live casino solutions  based in Malta.

Wilson says the new acquisitions add different categories of games to the company’s portfolio. ELK and Authentic have a European-style aspect, and Lightning Box products are naturally Australian in nature. All the acquisitions increase Light & Wonder’s ability to offer unique games.

“Everything we do now, everything we make, will be built around this vision of being the world’s leading cross-platform global games company,” Wilson says. “It’s a very focused vision and a very focused strategy.”

That strategy envisions that the markets for land-based gaming and the emerging igaming market will remain robust. Currently, only six states — Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Michigan, West Virginia, Delaware, and Connecticut – have legalized igaming, and there are concerns that igaming could cannibalize play at brick-and-mortar casinos.

But Wilson thinks online and in-person gaming are not mutually exclusive.

“Land-based gaming is an entertainment experience,” he says. “People get in their car and go to a casino, dine at the restaurants, they might go to the bar for a drink and then play some slot machines. It’s a very social activity, whereas igaming is more solitary. It’s a different way to consume gambling content, so actually they are very complementary.”

The change in name will be most obvious to investors, customers/businesses that buy products, and employees. And of those three groups, Wilson says the employees are the most important because “they are the major focus for the brand.”

“If we put a lot of energy into our employees they create great games,” he explains, “which makes our customers successful, and makes our investors successful. The brand is really targeted at our employees and potential employees that we want to join our organization.”

The name change was partially inspired by filmmaker George Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic, the launch pad for the Stars Wars franchise. While Scientific Games, which was founded in 1973, does have a certain prestige, it does conjure up an image of scientists in lab coats.

“That’s not what we do,” Wilson says. “We create games that are fun and entertaining. I pinch myself every day when I wake up that I get to go to work at a place where we make games for a living, and games that are transcendent.”