The board of directors of casino and lottery supplier Scientific Games Corporation has extended the management agreement of Chief Executive Officer Gavin Isaacs by one year. The extension is a vote of confidence in Isaacs, who has spent the past year heading consolidation efforts for the newly merged supplier.
Isaacs took the helm at Scientific Games just before it completed its acquisition of WMS Gaming, and oversaw the acquisition and absorption of Bally Technologies, a company for which he had once served as COO. In a securities filing quoted by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the company’s board said Isaacs had achieved “key business objectives, including integration milestones” in successfully integrating the operations of former companies Bally, WMSA and SHFL entertainment (where he had served as CEO) with longtime lottery industry leader Scientific Games.
In an interview with the Review-Journal, Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Andrew Zarnett said the contract extension “provides indirect confirmation that the synergies and integration initiatives are being implemented according to plan.”
Zarnett also lauded another action by the Scientific Games board, expanding the contract duties of Executive Vice Chairman and former Bally CEO Richard Haddrill, who will now oversee “special projects” from Isaacs involving key customers in addition to his board duties. “Given Haddrill’s relationships with many top-tier customers, we view this as a positive add,” Zarnett said.
