On 24 February 2026, Scientific Games named Rich Wasserman as SVP, Product Engineering, tasking him with leading engineering across its global lottery portfolio. The trade press has covered it as an appointment. It is more usefully read as a procurement signal and when set alongside a parallel hire made three weeks earlier, it points to a specific and consequential shift in how Scientific Games intends to manage its vendor relationships. Full announcement details are availabl

As rising compliance costs and margin compression push operators to defend every product decision in revenue terms, this interview examines how user-experience data is shifting from optional design input to financial control mechanism. Under sustained promotional pressure and shrinking tolerance for friction, decision power inside gambling organisations is migrating toward metrics that directly influence conversion, churn, and support cost rather than creative judgement alone