Following a successful 2024 for Light & Wonder, the supplier confirmed plans to exit the live dealer market.
Updating investors, the group revealed that after a strategic review, the group cited the market being smaller than it previously anticipated with it outlining that resources were better spent in other areas.
CEO Matt Wilson told investors: “While we’re still in the relatively early days of investing in the business, we strive to stay nimble as an organization and are thus focusing on the risk-reward profile of our other businesses, which have better visibility to superior returns relative to live casino.
“After a thorough strategic review, we identified that there have been some changes to the operator and supplier dynamics in that category, which has resulted in some degradation in pricing. So we made the decision to divest that set of assets and refocus the business to higher ROI investments.
“I think it’s an example that these strategies aren’t set-and-forget, we review them periodically and make sure they’re working for us. We made the decision to divest and focus on areas where we can see a clear line of sight to better returns.”
Sweepstake clarity needed
The live dealer decision enables the firm to elevate investments in other verticals, however, one of them won’t be the sweepstake sector, at least until regulatory clarity is found.
Providing a further update to investors, Wilson underlined the group’s stance on the sector as he revealed: “We see sweeps at the moment as being unregulated and so against our vision and strategy.
“If they were to regulate at some point down the path and tax in the same accordance as our other markets, we’d be willing to explore that.
“But we don’t see a pathway to that happening anytime soon. In fact, we see regulation actually going the other way and many AGs in different states are putting cease-and-desists out against sweepstake operators. So at the moment, we’re watching it closely.”
Prosperous 2024 for Light & Wonder
The statements come following a successful period for the firm as it reported gaming revenue increased by 12% to $2.1bn, fuelled by a 22% growth in gaming machine sales.
Overall, iGaming revenue was elevated by 9% to $299m, reflecting continued growth momentum in the US and international markets driven by strong content launches.
Wilson stated: “We ended a strong 2024 with continued double-digit revenue and earnings growth for the year. The gaming machine sales share gains in North America and Australia this year are a testament to our R&D investment, commercial strategy and robust product roadmap.
“Furthermore, we have also realigned studio needs, adding more talent and expanding existing studios. Our recently announced strategic acquisition of Grover Gaming’s charitable business enhances our crossplatform strategy and presence in regulated land-based markets, giving us a broader distribution base for our vast content library and accelerating our drive for sustainable future growth.”
