The Nevada Gaming Commission will consider final approval of IGT’s transition to a privately held company controlled by Apollo Global Management on June 26.
The first steps of the massive transition to a new version of IGT was recommended for approval Wednesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Board members voted unanimously to approve the $6.3 billion deal first announced in July and involves London-based IGT, Everi Holdings of Las Vegas and controlled by New York-based Apollo Global Management Inc. The IGT Gaming and Everi businesses will become privately owned companies of Apollo operating as elements of one enterprise. The combined enterprise will be called IGT and headquartered in Las Vegas.
Final regulatory approval is expected to be considered by the Nevada Gaming Commission on June 26. Apollo officials said final approval from the last regulator, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, also is scheduled June 26 and the deal is expected to close July 1.
Apollo is backing the deal with the resources of $20 billion in committed funds. Apollo managing member Daniel Cohen explained details of the transaction in a 90-minute presentation.
IGT announced in February 2024 plans to split its gaming and digital companies from its lottery businesses in a merger with Everi, a gaming equipment manufacturing company.
Five months later, Apollo offered an alternative transaction by acquiring both IGT and Everi. Over the last 11 months, all companies have made applications or requests for approvals in 36 jurisdictions to prepare for integration. Apollo labeled the acquisition and integration project and the temporary name as “Voyager Parent LLC,” but when the deal closes, the company will bear the IGT name. The existing IGT will take on a new name for its lottery business, which operates globally with a major center of operation in Italy.
Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick said the complex transaction has been much easier for regulators because they’re familiar with each company.
Apollo, which has invested in Nevada casinos for two decades, is the parent company of The Venetian and Palazzo resorts on the Strip and Cohen was vetted during The Venetian and Palazzo licensing in 2022.
IGT has been a Nevada company since 1975 and its current president of global gaming, Nick Khin, was recommended for approval as a key executive and will become interim CEO of the new IGT. Khin, who has been in the gaming industry for 23 years, said there are 2,000 IGT employees in Nevada.
When former Aristocrat Gaming CEO Hector Fernandez completes a non-compete agreement in the fourth quarter, he will become IGT’s CEO and Khin will become head of IGT’s global gaming division.
Everi, formerly known as Global Cash Access when it was founded in 1998, has been licensed as a manufacturer since 2011 and its top legal officer, Kate Lowenhar-Fisher, will become IGT’s compliance officer.
Former Gaming Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson served as legal counsel for the Voyager transaction.
In a separate action, the Control Board recommended approval of an order terminating IGT’s registration as a publicly traded company.
