Light & Wonder said second-quarter revenue rose 2% year on year to $828 million, while consolidated AEBITDA increased 9% to $383 million. The company said gaming operations, Grover and iGaming were the main growth drivers, and chief executive Matt Wilson described the quarter as one of broad-based growth and margin expansion across all three businesses.
The clearest bright spot was iGaming. Revenue in that unit climbed 14% and AEBITDA rose 18%, with the company saying the business kept growing in North America despite increased U.K. gaming duties. Light & Wonder said the gain was underpinned by first-party content proliferation and partner network growth.
The company also reported net income of $120 million, or $1.53 a share, up 26% and 38% respectively. Net cash provided by operating activities rose to $241 million, up 127%, while adjusted NPATA increased 16% to $156 million and adjusted free cash flow was $156 million, up 50%.
In gaming, revenue rose 5% to $554 million. Gaming operations revenue increased 18% to $247 million and table products revenue grew 13% to $62 million, but gaming machine sales fell 4% because of lower unit shipments tied to fewer new openings and expansions and lower adjacencies.
The North American gaming operations premium installed base added 652 units sequentially, extending its growth streak to a 24th consecutive quarter, and grew by more than 2,550 units year on year. Grover expanded its footprint by 277 units sequentially, and Light & Wonder shipped 8,796 new units globally, including more than 4,900 in North America.
SciPlay continued to grow direct-to-consumer revenue, and average revenue payer metrics improved sequentially in a mature social casino market. On capital returns, the company repurchased $134 million of stock in the quarter and $156 million in the first half of 2026, bringing cumulative repurchases under the current programme to $1.3 billion and more than $2.1 billion since buybacks were introduced in 2022, equal to about 27% of total shares outstanding.
The U.K. tax backdrop came from a broader reform package published by the government after a consultation that ran from 23 April to 21 July 2025. Remote Gaming Duty rose from 21% to 40% from April 2026, Bingo Duty was abolished from 1 April 2026, and a new 25% remote betting rate is due from 1 April 2027, with UK horseracing remote bets remaining taxed at 15%.
The government said the package was intended to support the public finances and was expected to raise over £1 billion a year, while also providing £26 million to the Gambling Commission over three years to tackle the illegal market and protect consumers.
