After accepting an offer from Apollo Global Management in December 2024 to become CEO of gaming equipment giant IGT, Hector Fernadez went on vacation. 

He had no choice. Aristocrat Gaming, where he had been CEO, exercised a 12-month non-compete clause, keeping Fernandez on the sidelines until last month.  

Fernandez, who spent more than six years with the Australian gaming equipment company’s Americas Division, resigned and monitored the progress of Apollo’s $6.3 billion acquisition of IGT and Everi Holdings from afar. The lengthy approval process concluded at the end of June with the merger of companies under the IGT name.

For Fernandez, 46, it was a new experience watching from the sidelines. He couldn’t visit IGT’s offices and he avoided October’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, which served as a coming-out party for the revamped IGT. Part of the transition was removing the name International Game Technology to put the focus on the IGT brand.

“I’ve changed jobs before. I’ve changed industries and I’ve changed locations,” Fernandez said in a Jan. 6 interview with The Nevada Independent at IGT’s corporate offices in Las Vegas. “This was the first time I was staying within the same industry. I had never left for a competitor.”

With time on his hands before he was able to join IGT on Dec. 3, Fernandez traveled with his family. He let everyone choose their location. Fernandez and his wife visited Mexico, he took his daughter to Thailand, his son to Korea and his sisters to the family’s native Guatemala.

“You go from everyone wanting to talk to you to being a guest in your own house,” Fernandez said of not going into the office. “I started thinking about the things that are important in my life.”

The time away allowed Fernandez to focus on his goals when he finally stepped into the leadership of IGT, which was once considered the industry’s dominant slot machine developer.

A 2015 buyout by lottery giant GTECH Holdings and a corporate shakeup sent IGT’s headquarters to London. Over time, IGT, which heavily focused on its worldwide lotteries, saw the slot machine side lose market share to rivals Aristocrat and Light & Wonder.

IGT is now a private company without stockholders and Securities and Exchange Commission-required disclosure requirements. Having shed the lottery business, and with its corporate flag permanently planted in Nevada, Fernandez said his message to employees was simple, focus on what he called the five C’s: culture, capabilities, content, commercialization and cash flow. 

“I told the team that a lot of organizations spend months writing a strategy with hundreds of trees being killed to publish that strategy,” Fernandez said. “You’re lucky if five people understand it.” 

Danny Cohen, a partner in Apollo’s private equity division, said Fernandez was identified as the type of leader IGT needed. He was named to the role five months after the acquisition was announced.

Fernandez gained notoriety when he helped Aristocrat land the deal with the National Football League to develop slot machines with the logos and helmets of the league’s 32 teams. The machines also utilize game highlights for each NFL team.

Cohen, who replied to questions from The Indy via email, said Fernandez’s experience has included building an inclusive culture for employees, while leading Aristocrat to industrywide recognition for developing innovative gaming products.

“He understands both where IGT is today and what it can become,” Cohen wrote. “Most importantly, he brings the judgment and values needed to lead through the next phase of growth.”

Todd Eilers, a principal in Southern California-based advisory firm Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, said the move by Fernandez from Aristocrat to IGT is similar to Light & Wonder CEO Matt Wilson’s 2019 departure from Aristocrat.  

“Hector is another senior executive leaving Aristocrat to help turn around a U.S. gaming supplier and is a good hire for IGT,” Eilers wrote in an email. “He will most likely implement a lot of the same core principles and focus that he experienced at Aristocrat.” 

According to Eilers, the key move for IGT was severing the lottery business, which freed up money that could be reinvested into the core gaming business or pay down debt.

“The combination of gaming and lottery really never made strategic sense, as the business models were much different and the customer base is also very different,” Eilers said.

He added that IGT will have “a much greater” focus on game development, which might include new leadership for several game creation studios.

Making IGT great again

Fernandez suggested that IGT “lost its way” in the science associated with building and incentivizing. 

“One of the things that we’re working really hard on is how to bring some of the greatness that used to exist and make IGT great again,” Fernandez said.

One example is “Wheel of Fortune.” The slot machine brand based on the long-running television game show is celebrating its 30th anniversary through a licensing agreement with Sony Pictures Television this year. IGT uses the “Wheel of Fortune” theme in casinos and online. There are more than 250 variations of the game, which have paid more than $3.6 billion in jackpots since its inception.

“It’s still the No. 1 recognized slot [machine] today,” Fernandez said. “There’s so much opportunity for us with the partnership. You will see some creative things that we bring to life. It’s more about delighting players with nostalgia and playing with a modern feel, with modern mechanics and modern bonuses.”

IGT’s Las Vegas showroom at its headquarters on South Buffalo Drive near West Sunset Road could double as a “Wheel of Fortune” museum with its array of games dating back decades.

Meanwhile, Fernandez said Everi’s financial technology (FinTech) services division, which manages cashless gaming technology and financial transactions, became part of IGT through the merger, giving the company an advantage in meeting its customers' varied needs. 

Before his interview with The Indy, Fernandez met with a potential customer, where he explained IGT’s four business segments — slot machines, digital gaming (which includes IGT’s sports betting management platform), FinTech and gaming management systems.

“While we may not be the leaders in some segments, we can create a solution for a customer that in theory could help the entire casino,” he said.

Apollo — a New York City-based asset management firm overseeing more than half a trillion dollars worth of assets — now owns two major pieces of the state’s gaming industry. 

In 2022, the company paid $2.25 billion to acquire the operations of The Venetian, Palazzo and Venetian Expo as part of a $6.25 billion purchase from Las Vegas Sands Corp. Real estate investment trust VICI paid $4 billion for the land and buildings.

Cohen said the IGT and Venetian operate separately with different teams overseeing leadership, decision-making authority and governance for the two companies. He said different investment funds with “distinct investor groups” own the businesses.

“There is no shared management or economic commingling between the funds,” Cohen said.

As with any gaming equipment manufacturer, IGT supplies slot machines to The Venetian and Palazzo “on market-based, related-party terms.” Cohen said agreements “are structured to ensure operational independence, regulatory compliance and appropriate economic separation.”

Traveling for work

Fernandez’s family travels prepared him for his busy first few weeks as IGT’s top executive. 

He held companywide town halls at several offices and centers in Las Vegas on his first day, where senior management met with employees from IGT and the now-merged Everi. He also held a video town hall that was broadcast to company offices globally.

A day later, he traveled to Reno to meet with workers at the company’s manufacturing center. The next morning, Fernandez flew to Oklahoma and met with tribal gaming operators and leadership. From there, Fernandez flew to Europe, meeting with IGT employees and studio operators in France, Austria, Serbia and Romania.

Last week, Fernandez worked the IGT booth and met with customers at the ICE Gaming Tradeshow in Barcelona, Spain.

“I made it very clear to the team that we are not number one,” Fernandez said. “I’ve told that to customers. Now, we’ve put a flag on the hill. We have aspirations to be number one.”