ASX-listed, Vegas-based Light & Wonder signals intention to get bigger in Australia

Las Vegas-based ASX-listed gaming supplier Light & Wonder plans to grow its Australian market share and investor base as it challenges Aristocrat’s longstanding dominance.

Light & Wonder gaming division chief executive Siobhan Lane.

Las Vegas-based global gaming supply company Light & Wonder is looking to grow its Australian market share and investor base following its listing on the ASX in May last year, according to the head of its gaming division, Siobhan Lane.

In an interview with The Australian at the Australian Gaming Expo in Sydney’s Darling Harbour on Tuesday, Ms Lane said the Nasdaq-listed company was looking to boost its Australian investor base, which had risen from 9 per cent to 26 per cent of the total since its dual listing on the ASX.

She said the company, which sells to casinos, clubs and pubs in Australia, was also keen to grow its local market share and had been challenging Aristocrat’s longstanding dominance.

“Australia is a very important market to us,” she said. “Our strategy is about gaining market share from our competitors,” she said.

The US-based company, which was bought in 2020 by former Aristocrat Leisure executives, now has some 45 per cent of the market in Australia in new product sales in the six months to June 30 this year, making it the No.1 supplier in terms of new ­business.

“That’s much higher than our historical ‘ship share’ percentage, which is a testament to the turnaround in our company and the level of investment we are putting into our research and development in creating great games and content,” Ms Lane said.

“We have a treasure trove of brands and content in the Light & Wonder portfolio which players have loved for many years,” she said. “We have a lot of Asian themed brands which resonate with players in Australia.”

One of the company’s most popular gaming machines in Australia is called Huff n’ Even More Puff. “It has a kind of animated fun art package, which is really resonating with players,” she said.

“We have the next iteration of it as one of the products we are showcasing at the convention in Sydney this week. We are very excited to bring it to the Australian market.”

“We will continue to invest in this market and deliver great games so we can sustain our growth position in the market,” she said.

Other Light & Wonder gaming products include Frankenstein, Dragon Train, Ultimate Fire Link, Dancing Drums Ultimate Explosion, Blazing 777 Jackpot, Monopoly Cash Reel and Quick Hit Link.

“We see a lot of growth potential for Light & Wonder both here in Australia and all of the other markets we operate in around the world,” Ms Lane said.

While the company generates most of its revenue in North America, it is keen to expand its footprint in Asia where it already has the No. 1 market share.

“Asia is one of the last markets to recover from the pandemic,” she said. “We have seen tailwinds over the last 18 months from Asia because of the latent recovery.

“We have strong positions in markets such as Macau and Singapore. The Philippines has been a high-growth market for us with the expansion of integrated resorts in that country. Thailand is also on the radar for gaming expansion and integrated resorts over the next few years.”

The company was originally known as Scientific Games, before a group of former Aristocrat executives, led by Toni Korsanos and Jamie Odell, bought a controlling share from US billionaire Ronald Perelman.

Ms Lane, a 17-year veteran of the gaming industry, including 12 years working with Aristocrat, said Light & Wonder was not concerned about speculation of a recession in its major markets, including the US and Australia.

“Gaming has been really resilient as an industry in economic cycles,” she said. “We see that across all our global markets.”

The company has 15 game design studios around the world, including several in Australia.

“The proximity of our game design studios to the local market is very important,” she said. “All our game design studios are in-house.

“The majority of our research and development investing is investing in great game design talents at our studios and making sure we have a diversified set of studios which can appeal to our global markets and the different player segments.”

She said Light & Wonder was currently looking at how it could use artificial intelligence in its company. “We are trying to understand how it could be leveraged as a tool in the development of our products,” she said.

“We are really just scratching the surface to understand the impact and the benefits of AI and how we can leverage its insights in our product development processes but also operationally.”

Light & Wonder shares closed down 1.7 per cent at $153.67.

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