Lighting & Wonder now own brands including Bally, WMS, and Shuffle Master.
The company can trace its history back to 1917 and Autotote, a manufacturer of totalizator systems for parimutuel wagering at racetracks. George Julius founded Automatic Totalisators Limited in Australia to build his revolutionary invention the totalizator system.
Automatic Totalisators opened its US office in New York City in 1953 before moving to Newark, Delaware in 1972. In 1978, the company was renamed Automote Ltd to recognize its diversification into fields other than racetrack technology, as it now dealt in lottery systems, off-track betting and slot machine accounting.
The company was acquired in 1979 by Thomas H. Lee Co for $17m. This amount was greatly surpassed over a decade later, in 1989, when United Tote purchased the company for $85m.
In 2000, Autotote bought Scientific Games Holdings Corporation, a manufacturer of instant lottery equipment, for $308 million. Scientific Games was founded in 1973 and introduced the first secure instant lottery ticket a year later.
By 2002, two-thirds of the $20bn wagered annually on racing in North America was tracked by Scientific Games computers. Scientific Games now supplied parimutuel wagering systems worldwide, which was cutting-edge with automated, computerized off-track and on-track systems.
In 2007, the New York Times credited Scientific Games and Gtech for ‘transforming’ an industry that had previously held a notorious reputation, as an “underground operation run by mobsters.” The Autotote racing division was sold to Sportech in 2010.
Scientific Games began its pivot away from retail casino technology in 2020 to the new online gambling sector. It began a strategic review to deleverage its balance sheet, as it struggled under $9.2 billion of debt. The company ultimately decided to sell its lottery and sports betting businesses to focus on the gaming business.
This led to the company rebranding as Light & Wonder in April 2022, reflecting its focus on gaming.
