Scientific Games will move corporate headquarters to Las Vegas
Lottery giant Scientific Games Corp., which acquired two slot machine manufacturers in the past 18 months, announced Monday it would move its corporate headquarters from New York to Las Vegas.
In a statement, the company said it would establish its primary U.S. manufacturing operations at facilities it acquired in a $5.1 billion buyout of Bally Technologies last year. Scientific Games’ corporate offices will be located off the 215 Beltway
“Las Vegas is a diverse, cosmopolitan city in business-friendly Nevada where we have strong roots and an extensive and growing employee base,” Scientific Games CEO Gavin Isaacs said. “This move will allow us to stay closely connected to our worldwide base of gaming, lottery and interactive customers.”
A year earlier, Scientific Games spent $1.5 billion to purchase WMS Industries. The company has begun to transition the WMS manufacturing operations from Waukegan, Ill., to Las Vegas. Scientific Games expects all WMS production to be transferred to the Las Vegas facilities by this summer and will closing the Illinois facility by the end of the year.
The move was anticipated after the Governor’s Office of Economic Development last week approved $2.5 million in incentives for Scientific Games and a subsidiary, Scientific Games Production, to defray costs of building a 40,000-square-foot soundstage for a set for “Monopoly Millionaires Club,” a nationally broadcast television game show.
Company officials said the move would create 200 jobs in Southern Nevada and the company plans to invest $4.8 million on developing local facilities.
Scientific Games said Bally and Shuffle Master gaming development and support operations will continue to be based in Las Vegas. WMS game development, engineering, support operations the interactive division, will continue to be based in Chicago. The operational headquarters of Scientific Games’ lottery division will remain in Georgia.
Gov. Brian Sandoval said the relocation means “hundreds of good-paying jobs for the people of Clark County and our state in the years to come.”
Scientific Games said the cost savings from the move were included in the company’s previously disclosed estimate of $235 million of expected annual cost synergies from Bally acquisition by the end of 2016.
Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871. Find him on Twitter: @howardstutz
