Light & Wonder: Asia Central to Becoming Number One Globally

Light & Wonder will continue to focus on Asian markets in pursuit of its strategic objective of becoming the number one gaming equipment supplier globally, according to the company’s senior vice president and international managing director for EMEA & APAC, Simon Johnson.

Johnson pointed out that the strategic goal to become the world’s number one supplier of gaming equipment and technology was at the center of the company’s Board policy. Johnson spoke to Inside Asian Gaming at this week’s Global Gaming Expo Asia (G2E Asia) Special Edition: Singapore.

Former Aristocrat Execs Key to Asian Growth

Referring to Light & Wonder chairman Jamie Odell and executive vice chair Toni Korsanos, Johnson outlined that the pair had a clear vision of that goal from the beginning, “a track record of having done it once before and a very clear determination to do it again,” and make Light & Wonder “the biggest and the best.”

Former Aristocrat chief executive officer Odell joined Scientific Games as a special advisor to the chairman and the CEO in 2019, while former senior advisor to the Board and CEO of Aristocrat Korsanos joined a year later to serve as SG’s executive vice chair. Scientific Games rebranded to Light & Wonder in March 2022.

Johnson also said that management identified Asia as the market where Light & Wonder is “closest to that number one spot,” even considering that in some aspects performance-wise, the business was “already there,” yet determined to show that it was not just about words but “a true statement of intent.”

Speaking of vice president and managing director, EMEA &APAC, Ken Jolly, and his team, Johnson hailed the “fantastic job” they have done in “driving that growth and really pushing hard to get the maximum results,” while the focus of the business shifted entirely to being “a content platform” after the divestment of its lottery and sports betting businesses.

Targeting Near- and Long-Term Growth

Targeting significant growth in the next two to three years while also ensuring growth sustainability in the long-term, Light & Wonder has “the time and the focus to really invest” in its business in Asia, Johnson outlined, looking forward to upcoming “really exciting developments” about the company’s Asian roadmap.

“We’re very focused on driving this momentum of sequential growth and improving the stability of that performance,” he said, adamant that “building sustainable performance improvement over the long-term is at the heart of what this is.”

Johnson concluded by noting that the evolution of the business and competition may change the “prism of exactly what [being] number one means” but that one should “never lose sight” of its meaning in terms of “improvement in shareholder value and improvement in performance,” so that the cycle of performance driving confidence and confidence driving performance is closed.