Longtime gaming industry executive Gavin Isaacs resigned his position as vice chairman of Scientific Games last week, adding speculation to where his next stop might take the Australian native.
This same scenario has played out before.
In 2014, Isaacs went from unemployed to CEO of Scientific Games, which at the time was the first most diversified global gaming business touching all aspects of the legalized gambling industry.
Isaacs, 54, spent two years as CEO of Scientific Games before resigning in 2016, but he retained his position on the company’s board. Scientific Games announced the departure in a one sentence filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
“I love Vegas. I love gaming and I’ll be back,” Isaacs told CDC Gaming Reports Monday. His consulting agreement with Scientific Games expires on Dec. 31.
Isaacs said he doesn’t have anything lined up yet and wants the industry to know he’s available.
If history is a guide, he won’t be sidelined for long.
Isaacs was CEO of SHFL entertainment when he engineered a $1.3 billion purchase of the table game manufacturer and supplier to Bally Technologies in 2013. Isaacs had spent five years as chief operating officer with Bally.
After the SHFL deal closed, Isaacs joined Scientific Games as a consultant in March 2014 when company chairman Ron Perelman bought out the remaining months on a noncompete clause that was part of the severance package Isaacs signed with Bally when he departed from SHFL.
Three months later, Perelman and Scientific Games’ board of directors named Isaacs CEO.
One month later, Scientific Games announced a $5.1 billion purchase of Bally.
“I really never imagined all this 12 months ago,” Isaacs told the Nevada Gaming Commission during a December 2014 hearing on Scientific Games’ Bally purchase. “I was just thinking about 12 months on the beach.”
In addition to his roles with Scientific Games, Bally and SHFL, Isaacs spent 12 years as a corporate lawyer in Sydney before becoming head of slot machine maker Aristocrat Leisure Ltd.’s legal department in 1999.
At this year’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, Isaacs was named recipient of the 2018 Jens Halle Memorial Award Honoring Excellence in Commercial Gaming Professionalism from the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers.
“Few people in our industry’s history have traveled the world more than Gavin has, shaking hands, meeting customers, and sharing his unique personality, during a distinguished career that has also taken him to the top leadership position at multiple respected companies,” AGEM President Tom Nieman said in a statement.
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming Reports. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgamingreports.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
