Light & Wonder acquires Playzido to increase iGaming capabilities; posts revenue up 26% in Q1

Light & Wonder, the gaming services and products supplier previously often called Scientific Games Corporation, introduced Tuesday that the corporate has considerably elevated the scope of its iGaming content material capabilities with the acquisition of Playzido, a dynamic content material creation platform supplier and recreation provider.

The deal comes as Light & Wonder reported consolidated revenue of $572 million in Q1, up 26% year-on-year, partly credited to the sturdy gaming momentum in the North American market. Additionally, the corporate managed to cut back its web loss to $67 million, barely decrease than the $88 million from the yr earlier than.

The debt discount follows the latest sale of its lottery and sports activities betting companies, which generated $5.6 billion in gross money proceeds, and allowed the corporate to considerably cut back its excellent debt, from $8.9 billion to $4 billion, whereas paving the way in which for a return on investments for shareholders, totaling $140 million. 

Looking ahead, Light & Wonder believes that Playzido will speed up the tempo at which L&W can associate with recreation studios and operators throughout the globe to co-create new and unique content material for gamers. This is thanks to Playzido’s proprietary Remote Gaming Server (RGS) -described as “among the finest” in the iGaming trade for speedy customized recreation development- and their “open and agile” platform.

Light & Wonder's rebranding announcement earlier this yr

This acquisition will present a sooner route to marketplace for artistic studios who don’t personal their very own improvement platform, who can now make the most of Playzido’s superior know-how to quickly develop content material and reap the benefits of L&W’s OpenGaming aggregation platform to distribute extra video games than ever earlier than throughout L&W’s operator community.

Dylan Slaney, CEO of iGaming at Light & Wonder, iGaming, mentioned: “The Playzido deal is an ideal instance of an acquisition that dovetails with our world technique, demonstrating but once more our dedication to make focused value-enhancing investments designed to advance our cross-platform content material capabilities.

“Playzido’s platform is likely one of the greatest in the trade and we’re delighted to have the option to harness that know-how to assist studios and operators globally to develop and distribute recreation content material that can proceed to resonate with gamers. Light & Wonder is the go-to associate for recreation improvement and distribution globally, delivering the proper mixture of know-how, community, and providers,” he added.

Stuart Banks, Playzido’s CEO, commented: “It is the proper second to develop into a part of the Light & Wonder household, with the distribution energy of OpenGaming, and their regulatory experience, we will look to speed up rapidly by bringing on board extra studios than ever earlier than. The synergies behind the acquisition are clear and we’ll now flip our consideration to extending our attain throughout markets internationally.”

Light & Wonder CEO Barry Cottle

Additionally, Light & Wonder introduced Adjusted EBITDA from persevering with operations grew to $202 million in Q1, or to $322 million when discontinued operations are included. According to Light & Wonder President & CEO Barry Cottle, the enterprise kicked off 2022 with “sturdy momentum” throughout companies and a variety of important achievements, together with the sale of the Lottery Business, which permits to de-lever and maximize money.

“We are delivering on our guarantees to create nice content material cross-platform whereas increasing in high-growth digital markets and enabling a seamless participant expertise. With a reconstituted stability sheet, sustainable double-digit development, and robust money technology, we now have the flexibility to considerably improve shareholder worth by a disciplined method to capital allocation,” Cottle said. 

The new report and newest deal by Light & Wonder observe latest high-profile iGaming acquisitions of slot developer Lightning Box, premium reside on line casino supplier Authentic Gaming and European slot developer ELK Studios.