Light & Wonder reports US$133m third-quarter net income and appoints SciPlay CEO

Light & Wonder reported third-quarter net income of US$133m, up 16.7% year on year. Revenue for the three months to 30 September was US$824m, down 2.0%, the company said in a Wednesday announcement.

The number of new gaming machines sold in international markets, including Asia Pacific, rose 17.0% year on year. Consolidated adjusted EBITDA was US$383m in the third quarter, up 2.1% from a year earlier. Third-quarter operating expenses fell 4.9% to US$582m.

The group's three main segments are land-based gaming, iGaming and SciPlay, its social casino business. Gaming was still the biggest business from July to September, yet segment revenue slipped 0.7% from a year earlier to US$554m. Gaming systems revenue dropped 23.6% year on year to US$55m, which partly explained that decline. Gaming machine sales revenue climbed 5.3% to US$199m, while gaming operations revenue grew 2.9% to US$248m.

Matthieu Labbat became SciPlay's chief executive with immediate effect, Light & Wonder said on Wednesday. His most recent role was senior vice president and head of Product Madness at competitor Aristocrat Leisure Ltd, where he was responsible for the profit and loss of the mobile gaming business. Matt Wilson, the president and chief executive, said in prepared remarks that Matthieu has "a proven record of building and scaling mobile gaming businesses." In the same remarks, that combination was said to make him "the ideal leader for SciPlay."

Mr Wilson said Light & Wonder's "gaming momentum" had carried on, pointing to its North American premium installed base "growing for the 25th consecutive quarter." On the Grover Charitable Gaming business, acquired in May 2025, he said Grover "continues to scale across both existing and new markets." Chief financial officer Oliver Chow said year-to-date adjusted free cash flow was US$545 million, a 49 percent rise year-over-year that was in line with the full-year 2025 level. Looking ahead, the group CEO said the company was "encouraged by the momentum heading into the fourth quarter."