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Scientific Games Announces Kevin M. Sheehan as New CEO and President - Gavin Isaacs to Become Vice Chairman of the Board

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Aug 05, 2016

LAS VEGAS – August 5, 2016Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS) (“Scientific Games” or the “Company”) today announced that Kevin M. Sheehan, former Chief Executive Officer and President of Norwegian Cruise Line, has joined Scientific Games as the company’s new CEO and President. Additionally, he will serve on the Company’s Board of Directors. Current Scientific Games CEO and President Gavin Isaacs will become Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Sheehan and Mr. Isaacs have assumed their new roles effective today following yesterday’s approval by the Board of Directors.

“Today we are one company with three strong businesses – gaming, lottery and interactive. Our integration is behind us and our business strategies are delivering solid results. With our momentum building, I’m moving forward from an operational leadership position to a more strategic role, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. On behalf of my colleagues and the Board, we welcome our new CEO and President, Kevin Sheehan. This is the right time to grow our leadership team and have someone of Kevin’s talent, experience, and financial acumen take us to the next phase of growth and innovation,” said Gavin Isaacs, Scientific Games Board Vice Chairman.

Mr. Sheehan joins Scientific Games from Norwegian Cruise Line, where he served as CEO and President for seven years. Mr. Sheehan led the development and expansion of the company, presiding over strong sales and EBITDA growth and the company’s initial public offering (IPO), one of the most successful IPO’s in 2013. He broadened the company’s reach with new classes of ships, including luxury cruising and led the company to industry leading profitably, which strategically positioned the company for continued long term growth. Mr. Sheehan oversaw major initiatives including vastly improving on-board service and amenities across the fleet; expanding the line’s European presence; repositioning tow of the line’s Hawai’i-based ships creating a profitable business model; revitalizing top management with a combination of cruise industry and outside expertise; and using his extensive 30-year background in the business world to help Norwegian post a sharp turnaround in profitability in the midst of a tough economic climate.

During nine years with Cendant Corporation, Mr. Sheehan held various senior executive roles including serving as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Cendant’s Corp’s Vehicle Services Division from January 2003 to May 2005, including global responsibility for Avis Rent A Car, Budget Rent A Car, Budget Truck, PHH Vehicle Management, First Fleet and Wright Express. He also served as the Chief Financial Officer of Cendant Corporation from March 2001 to May 2003.

After leaving Cendant and prior to joining Norwegian Cruise Line, Mr. Sheehan worked at Cerberus Capital Management as a senior advisor in the assessment of multi-billion acquisition targets and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, leading the acquisition of Hertz from Ford.

Most recently, Mr. Sheehan served as the John J. Phelan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Robert B. Willumstad School of Business at Adelphi University.

“This is an exciting time to join Scientific Games,” said Mr. Sheehan. “Scientific Games is the worldwide leader in gaming, lottery and interactive innovation and I look forward to building on that momentum to drive continued growth across the company. Scientific Games offers an unrivaled comprehensive suite of products and services for our customers around the world and is well positioned to continue to grow.”

“I am so pleased to welcome Kevin to Scientific Games and that Gavin will continue with the company in his new role. With the company fully integrated, it is the right time to expand our leadership team so we can take full advantage of the new and growing opportunities open to a company with our global scale and broad expertise. Kevin’s intellect and experience will be an invaluable asset as we move forward as one company,” said Ronald O. Perelman, Chairman of the Board of Scientific Games.

© 2016 Scientific Games Corporation. All Rights Reserved.

About Scientific Games
Scientific Games Corporation (NASDAQ: SGMS) is a leading developer of technology-based products and services and associated content for worldwide gaming, lottery and interactive markets. The Company’s portfolio includes gaming machines, game content and systems; table games products and utilities; instant and draw-based lottery games; server-based lottery and gaming systems, sports betting technology; loyalty and rewards programs; and interactive content and services. For more information, please visit us at www.scientificgames.com.

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Forward-Looking Statements
In this press release, Scientific Games makes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results or strategies and can often be identified by the use of terminology such as "may," "will," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "continue," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "target," "should," "could," "potential," "opportunity," "goal," or similar terminology. These statements are based upon management's current expectations, assumptions and estimates and are not guarantees of timing, future results or performance. Therefore, you should not rely on any of these forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated in these statements due to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors, including, among other things: competition; U.S. and international economic and industry conditions, including slow growth of new gaming jurisdictions, slow addition of casinos in existing jurisdictions, and declines in the replacement cycle of gaming machines; ownership changes and consolidation in the gaming industry; opposition to legalized gaming or the expansion thereof; inability to adapt to, and offer products that keep pace with, evolving technology, including any failure of our investment of significant resources in our R&D efforts; inability to develop successful products and services and capitalize on trends and changes in our industries, including the expansion of internet and other forms of interactive gaming; laws and government regulations, including those relating to gaming licenses and environmental laws; dependence upon key providers in our social gaming business; inability to retain or renew, or unfavorable revisions of, existing contracts, and the inability to enter into new contracts; level of our indebtedness, higher interest rates, availability or adequacy of cash flows and liquidity to satisfy indebtedness, other obligations or future cash needs; inability to reduce or refinance our indebtedness; restrictions and covenants in debt agreements, including those that could result in acceleration of the maturity of our indebtedness; protection of our intellectual property, inability to license third party intellectual property, and the intellectual property rights of others; security and integrity of our products and systems and reliance on or failures in information technology and other systems; challenges or disruptions relating to the implementation of a new global enterprise resource planning system; failure to maintain internal control over financial reporting; natural events that disrupt our operations or those of our customers, suppliers or regulators; inability to benefit from, and risks associated with, strategic equity investments and relationships; failure to achieve the intended benefits of our acquisitions; incurrence of restructuring costs; implementation of complex revenue recognition standards or other new accounting standards; changes in estimates or judgments related to our impairment analysis of goodwill or other intangible assets; fluctuations in our results due to seasonality and other factors; dependence on suppliers and manufacturers; risks relating to foreign operations, including fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, restrictions on the payment of dividends from earnings, restrictions on the import of products and financial instability, including the potential impact to our business resulting from the affirmative vote in the U.K. to withdraw from the EU, and the potential impact to our instant lottery game concession or VLT lease arrangements resulting from the recent economic and political conditions in Greece; changes in tax laws or tax rulings, or the examination of our tax positions; dependence on key employees; litigation and other liabilities relating to our business, including litigation and liabilities relating to our contracts and licenses, our products and systems, our employees (including labor disputes), intellectual property, environmental laws and our strategic relationships; influence of certain stockholders; and stock price volatility.

Additional information regarding risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in forward-looking statements is included from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including the Company's current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its latest annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 29, 2016 (including under the headings "Forward Looking Statements" and "Risk Factors"). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made and, except for Scientific Games' ongoing obligations under the U.S. federal securities laws, Scientific Games undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.