Light & Wonder grows revenue by two per cent despite geopolitical uncertainty
North American premium units base grew for 23rd consecutive quarter, adding over 2,550 premium units year-over-year
Light & Wonder delivered a solid start to 2026 with its first quarter underpinned by its highly diversified business model, continued disciplined execution across all three businesses and strong cash flow generation, while demonstrating resilience against a backdrop of macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty, including tariff-related pressures.
Consolidated revenue grew two per cent year-over-year to $790m, against a strong prior year period.
The company said: “We continue to execute against our commitment to deliver enhanced quality of earnings through recurring revenue, with gaming operations and iGaming as the primary growth drivers during the quarter, each delivering double-digit year-over-year revenue increases. This was further underpinned by continued operational momentum and content strength. Net income was $52m, down 37 per cent year-over-year, respectively, reflecting approximately $50m in legal reserve contingencies associated with certain legacy legal matters, which impacted year-over-year net income and net income per share growth by approximately 61 per cent. Net cash provided by operating activities was $139m, a 25 per cent decrease compared to the same period in 2025, primarily reflecting the payment of legal matter settlements in the quarter.
The first quarter demonstrated broad-based strength, with all three businesses delivering another quarter of segment AEBITDA growth and AEBITDA margin expansion.
Gaming revenue increased three per cent year-over-year to $512m, driven by gaming operations revenue, which increased 38 per cent to $239m and table products, which increased 24 per cent to $63m. Gaming machine sales revenue decreased 25 per cent, primarily reflecting the timing of international and North America Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) shipments in the prior year period, while average selling price per unit remained resilient at around $19,700.
North American Gaming operations premium installed base grew for the 23rd consecutive quarter adding 650 units sequentially (over 2,550 on a year-over-year basis), and Grover charitable gaming expanded its footprint by 660 units on a sequential basis, boosted by entry into the recently legalised Indiana market. In North America, we also shipped over 5,000 North American units this quarter.
iGaming once again delivered quarterly double-digit growth in revenue of 18% and AEBITDA of 22% on continuing U.S. momentum underpinned by first-party content proliferation and partner network growth. While SciPlay revenues remain challenged amid a mature social casino market, the business continued to grow both its direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) revenue and active users on a sequential basis.
Matt Wilson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Light & Wonder, said: “The first quarter of 2026 marks the beginning of the next phase of the Company’s growth trajectory: one defined by our content-centric operating model, deepening customer relationships, disciplined execution, expanding margins and enhanced capital structure. We are seeing the benefits of our continued investment in studios and content, as our franchises drive strong game performance across the portfolio. Gaming momentum remained robust, with our North American premium installed base growing for the 23rd consecutive quarter, and Grover continued its expansion into the recently legalised Indiana market. iGaming delivered another double-digit growth quarter in both revenue and AEBITDA, while SciPlay continued to expand its DTC revenue. Looking ahead, we remain focused on investing in product innovation and talent to further strengthen our recurring revenue model and enhance our global competitive position as we progress toward our 2028 financial targets.”
Oliver Chow, Chief Financial Officer of Light & Wonder, said: “Our first quarter results reflect continued margin expansion across the businesses and scaling cash flow, driving the improving cash conversion profile of our business, while we make deliberate investments in AI and infrastructure that we believe will compound meaningfully over time to support both growth and efficiency. Our capital allocation priorities remain disciplined and unchanged: investing in high-return growth opportunities, managing our net debt leverage ratio toward the lower end of our targeted range and returning capital to shareholders meaningfully, having now repurchased 25 per cent of total shares outstanding since the program’s inception. We maintained our net debt leverage ratio within our targeted range and expect to deleverage throughout 2026, supported by strong underlying business performance. Importantly, we remain committed to reducing our net debt leverage ratio to below 3.0x during the first half of 2027, with the intention to accelerate share repurchases in the second quarter, creating sustainable long-term shareholder value.”
