Spin Cycle: More Ws Than Ls For LNW Highlight Week In Gambling

Welcome to “Spin Cycle,” Casino Reports’ weekly Friday roundup of all things impactful, intriguing, impressive, or idiotic in the gambling industry. Pull up a chair, grab a stack of chips and a glass of your beverage of choice, and take a spin with us through this week’s news cycle …

Seeing the light (and the wonder)

The Q2 earnings reporting rolled on this week, and while the approach for many companies is to work up a sweat putting a positive spin on not-so-positive numbers, Light & Wonder stood out as one company that didn’t have to spin too hard to get to the positive. Phrased another way: The company behind the Huff N’ Puff games isn’t just blowing smoke.

Light & Wonder reported Tuesday an overall revenue increase of 2% for the second quarter, an iGaming-specific revenue increase of 14%, and a 26% rise in net income.

CEO and President Matt Wilson said in a prepared statement, “iGaming once again delivered double-digit growth in both revenue and AEBITDA, reflecting the resilience of our North American momentum even as we navigate headwinds from increased U.K. gaming duties. … As we look toward the second half of the year, we remain focused on disciplined execution, continued investment in product innovation and talent, and progressing towards both our 2026 and 2028 financial targets.”

Cash flow was also up in the quarter, by 9%. And iGaming wagers processed — “handle,” essentially, to put it in sports betting terms — set a record for the company, at $31.3 billion for the quarter.

Truist Securities wrote of Light & Wonder in an analyst note, “We remain Buy rated as we monitor progress against industry headwinds while prioritizing recurring revenues, cash flows, and deleverage.”

More news to know …

• Penn Entertainment was among the other companies sharing its Q2 earnings this week, noting revenue of $1.5 billion and relatively modest net income loss of $32.6 million. Online casino remains a bright spot for Penn, with revenue from Penn’s digital operations at $349.9 million and CEO Jay Snowden telling investors, “Our interactive segment remains on track to deliver upon our previously stated goals, supported by growth in U.S. iCasino and Canada.” This continues the company’s iGaming optimism expressed at the end of the Q1.
• The World Series of Poker Main Event final table wasn’t the only source of newsworthy poker action this week. At the King’s Poker Cup on the island of Jeju, Bryn Kenney chopped the pot with Jesse Lonis for a shared first/second finish in the $100,000 King's Charity Super High Roller, adding $1.6 million to Kenney’s career tournament earnings — making the all-time tournament money king the first to cross $90 million. It’s important to note, though, that “earnings” are not the same as profits, and the tournament money trackers don’t account for money spent on buy-ins — which is surely a pretty penny for a high-roller specialist like Kenney.

• Confirmation-of-the-obvious alert: The possibility of adding a casino in the Meadowlands will not make the ballot in New Jersey this November. The state crossed its legislative deadline on Monday without the question having been approved for the ballot. To most in New Jersey, this was the expected outcome. But at least one New Jersey man expressed surprise: “I was disappointed and truthfully shocked that I wasn’t able to get it on the ballot,” Meadowlands Racetrack owner Jeff Gural told NorthJersey.com.
• Games Global announced Tuesday the launch of a new opt-in product called Jackpot Madness, which is “built to enhance the player experience through its quirky theme and four distinct prize tiers featuring an array of six pots,” according to a release. Said executive Ofir Gal-Mor in that release: “Games Global is committed to providing operators with ever more sophisticated tools to engage their customer base through a single integration.”
• The DOI says a proposed tribal casino in Vallejo, California is DOA. The Department of the Interior ruled last Friday that the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians did not qualify under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act’s restored lands exception to build its proposed 160-acre casino in Solano County. But this is not necessarily the final word. “The administrative record overwhelmingly supports the tribe’s gaming eligibility. We will move quickly to challenge the decision in federal court,” said Shawn Davis, the tribe’s chairman.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

In 22-Year-Old Lucas Jumalon, Poker Has A WSOP Champ Excited To Grow The Game

Opening Of Wynn Megaresort In UAE Pushed Back To September 2027

Million-Euro Lottery Ticket Thrown In Trash, Found In Six Tons Of Garbage

Online Casino Hope For Ohio? It Depends Who The Next Governor Is

National Tribal Leaders To Senate Committee: Here’s How To Protect Indian Gaming

Trial Date For Rigged Poker Case Defendants Moved To Late November

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, presented in partnership with DraftKings Casino, I welcomed attorney Evan Davis, who leads the Gaming & Sports practice at Royer Cooper Cohen Braunfeld LLC, for a conversation covering compliance, authentication, fraud, KYC, AI, skill games, and the prediction market court cases. Plus, Evan wondered aloud: Why did a casino city in the desert become a major destination while a casino city in a beachfront town did not?

I also explored the common denominator in the major news of IG Group acquiring Underdog and Peter Jackson exiting as Flutter CEO, and I sang the praises of WSOP commentators Ali Nejad and Nick Schulman, who became my two best friends for three nights this week (even if neither of them knew they were my best friends).

Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

Caesars Palace Turns 60: How The Iconic Las Vegas Resort Changed The Strip Forever [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

Casino Campaigns Mobilize In Allen And Steuben Counties Ahead Of November Vote [21 Alive News]

Horse Racing's Triple Crown May Be Dead [Yahoo! Sports]

Pat McHugh To Retire As Scientific Games CEO; Kevin Schneider Appointed Interim Successor [CDC Gaming]

Fate Of Illegal Gambling Machines Pondered By Prosecutors, Police [The Center Square]

Raynham Could Get Slots If House Gets Its Way — What Happened? [Taunton Daily Gazette]

Bally’s Completes Acquisition Of Sam’s Town Shreveport From Boyd Gaming [CDC Gaming]

Thunder Valley Casino Resort Names Dawn Clayton Its New Chief Executive Officer [The Sacramento Bee]

Architects Behind Bellagio, Wynn Launch New Las Vegas Firm [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

The Bonus Round

Completing the Spin Cycle with a few of our favorite social media posts of the week: