Mr. Michael Gavin Isaacs has been Chief Executive Officer, President, Director of Scientific Games Corporation since June 2014. Mr. Isaacs served as the Chief Executive Officer at SHFL entertainment, Inc. (Alternate Name: Shuffle Master Inc.) from April 2011 to November 2013. Mr. Isaacs was a Partner of DLA Phillips Fox. He has more than 12 years of industry experience, including senior roles with worldwide gaming technology companies. He serves as the President of The
I was able to connect with Gavin prior to his participation in the C-Suite Perspectives; CEO roundtable panel. The responses are visionary.
1. What are the challenges for the gaming industry?
"Maintaining momentum and growth are two of the biggest challenges for our industry. The casino gaming industry, like many other industries, is always impacted by the economic situation in the markets in which we do business. When the economy is struggling, as it is in some gaming markets around the world, consumers don’t have as much disposable income to spend on entertainment, including gaming."
"There is more competition for the entertainment dollar than ever before, so we have to ensure that we provide a deep breadth of gaming experiences that engage and entertain players of all ages and all preferences."
"Innovation and investment are also vital for the future – essential to keep gaming viable and fun."
2. Generation Y or Millennials are not as fascinated by our current offering as their parents were. How can the gaming industry generate interest from this group?
"First, I’m not so sure that younger people aren’t as interesting in gaming as their parents – they may just not have the disposable income to spend on gaming right now as many of them are just starting to gain momentum in their careers, growing their families, buying homes, taking care of aging parents, and paying off student loans."
"Millennials on the older end of the spectrum are approaching the age of 35, which means they are starting to make more money and may have a bit more free time to spend on casino gaming entertainment. That is good news for casino operators and suppliers like Scientific Games."
"We’ve studied Millenials extensively through our market research programs and we’ve found out a few things: they like on-demand experiences; flexibility; speed, in fact almost instantaneous; and multi-format brand engagement. They are more engaged than ever, culturally connected, global, experience seeking, and for Millennials and many of the rest of us, it is all about being mobile and the mobile experience."
"The key for operators and suppliers in attracting this generation is to make sure that we offer diversity in the experiences we provide. For example, Millennials appreciate greater social interaction, which is a perfect fit for traditional and electronic table games. And elements of skill, sociality, and interaction are also important to many Millennials, so we have to provide products and experiences that deliver that – through a number of channels including mobile, social, and on the live casino floor itself."
"Finally, I have always said that casino players of every age are getting more youthful and embracing our digital culture that includes internet, social media, and mobile – this is an opportunity for us to engage with the player much more frequently on and off the casino floor and cross-promote to drive incremental play."
3. Social games with a skill-based component are receiving consideration in Nevada and New Jersey. Do you think this will spur growth?
"We have been actively involved in working directly with the regulators on the skill-based gaming initiative, and we’re quite excited about it. In fact, we were a little bit ahead of our time at Bally when we experimented with slot games with elements of skill or perceived skill, such as Pong, Breakout, SKEE-BALL, Total Blast, Fishin’ for Loot, and All That Jazz."
"We think skill-based games could add excitement to the casino floor and attract new players, while giving loyal slot players a new and exciting experience. At G2E we’ll have some skill-based experiences in our private innovation area and one that everyone can see on the show floor – Space Invaders Evolution based on the Atari classic arcade game."
4. Overseeing the merger of Scientific Games, Bally, and WMS was a major undertaking. What were the strengths of the organizations?
"Overseeing the integration of these great legacy companies has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. Each company was a leader in the industry and each company was driven by the same thing – an unwavering focus on innovation and customer partnership. Importantly each company’s success was due to its great team of devoted and intelligent people."
"When we were doing the integration, the fact that the companies had similar cultures and were driven by a similar mission and core values made it easier to come together as one."
"Bally was a leader in spinning-reel games, WAPs, and inventive hardware design; WMS was known for its terrific portfolio of licensed brands and its WAP performance; and Scientific Games was and still remains a global leader in the lottery business as a trusted partner to more than 150 lotteries in 50 countries on six continents. Add in Shuffle Master with its table and shuffler dominance and Barcrest with its European flair. Now, we’ve combined our strengths and we continue to lead the industry in innovation and product breadth; it has been challenging but also very exciting to see everything come together so quickly just 10 months after our acquisition of Bally."
5. What are your thoughts about iGaming?
"We prefer to stay out of the politics of iGaming and focus on the solutions we can provide to legal iGaming jurisdictions. Through our Scientific Games Interactive division, we are a leading provider of Social Slots and have a strong presence in all key platforms. We also distribute our slot content to third-party online gaming providers for desktop and mobile play, with a library of nearly 100 games."
Gavin is participating in the AGA roundtable at the G2E with Greg Carlin and Mark Frissora on Wednesday, September 30, between 9:00 and 10:00 PDT.
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