Scientific Games Names CDK's Dan Flynn CEO as Kevin Schneider Becomes Chairman

Brookfield's lottery supplier has filled the post Pat McHugh left in September with a transformation executive from another Brookfield company, not a lottery veteran. In Toronto, Bragg Gaming has replaced its chief executive a week before its third-quarter results.

• Scientific Games named Dan Flynn chief executive on 5 November, with effect from 2 November, and made interim chief executive Kevin Schneider chairman of its board
• Flynn joins from CDK Global, an automotive retail technology company that Brookfield also owns, where he was chief transformation officer; the career the company describes includes no lottery role
• Schneider had run the company on an interim basis since Pat McHugh retired on 8 September, after more than 20 years with the supplier
• The appointment lands while Scientific Games is still running the Maryland Lottery under a contract it is fighting to keep
• Separately, Bragg Gaming Group moved chief executive Matevž Mazij to an advisory role on 6 November and made chief operating officer Morten Tonnesen interim chief executive

Scientific Games Turns to a Brookfield Transformation Executive

Scientific Games, the Atlanta-based lottery supplier, announced on 5 November that Dan Flynn became chief executive on 2 November. Kevin Schneider, interim chief executive since September, becomes chairman and will work on strategic, commercial and operational priorities, according to the release.

Flynn's career sits outside gambling. The company says he was most recently chief transformation officer at CDK Global, a Brookfield portfolio company he returned to in 2022 to lead transformation and software modernisation. The release also lists a 2016 to 2019 spell as executive vice president of business transformation and president of North America, three years running Caterpillar's global rental and used equipment business, and more than two decades at Hertz, ending as senior vice president of North American operations. It cites experience with businesses serving state and municipal customers.

Schneider said Flynn "brings the operational and technology leadership experience to build on that momentum". Flynn will attend the World Lottery Summit in Sydney from 9 to 13 November, according to the release.

A Search That Took Three Months

Scientific Games announced on 3 August that McHugh would retire on 8 September and that the board would search for a permanent successor. McHugh began his lottery career at GTECH in 1992 and joined Scientific Games in 2004. That release said he would stay on as vice chair in an advisory role, and named David Nowak, president of Brookfield's private equity group, as chairman.

The 5 November release does not mention Nowak or McHugh's advisory role. Schneider, a former chief operating officer of Genworth Financial, joined the board as an independent director in 2022 and became vice chair in March 2026. No pay terms were disclosed.

Brookfield Business Partners bought the lottery business in 2022, in a deal valued at up to $6.05 billion when announced on 27 October 2021. The seller, then called Scientific Games Corporation, is now Light & Wonder.

Bragg Moves Mazij to an Advisory Role

In Toronto, Bragg Gaming Group said on 6 November that Mazij had moved from chief executive to strategic adviser with immediate effect, a role it says carries no day-to-day management responsibility. Tonnesen, chief operating officer since March 2026, became interim chief executive the same day. The company gave no reason and mentions no search for a permanent chief executive.

Mazij, who founded Oryx Gaming, which Bragg bought in 2018, had led the company since August 2023. He left Bragg's board in July after failing to win a majority at the 18 June annual meeting, and Matt Davey, whose Tekkorp Capital holds about 10.09% of Bragg's shares, became chairman on 22 July. Bragg reported second-quarter revenue of €22.9 million, down 12%, and withdrew its 2026 guidance after buying Drayton International. It reports third-quarter results on 13 November.

Brookfield Has Picked an Operator From Its Own Portfolio

McHugh was a lottery lifer; Flynn is a transformation specialist from a Brookfield-owned software company. The release frames his record around technology modernisation and large operations, and Schneider's quote leans on the same two words. Lottery contracts are long procurements run by state agencies, so Scientific Games will rely on executives with that experience while Flynn learns the customers. The release names no change of strategy, so the hire reads as a statement of what the owner wants run harder, not of where the business is heading.

The Contract Calendar Leaves Little Room for a Learning Curve

Rivals such as Brightstar and Intralot compete for the same multi-year state contracts. In Maryland, the incumbent contract is reported to end on 4 May 2027 while appeals over the rejected rebid continue. Flynn's first outing is the World Lottery Summit, in front of the customers who award those contracts. The board is betting that experience serving public-sector customers elsewhere transfers to lottery procurement, where an incumbent's record carries heavy weight and contracts run for years.

Bragg's Change Follows a Shareholder Vote and a Weak Quarter

Bragg's release is silent on why Mazij stepped aside, but the record is not: shareholders declined to re-elect him as a director in June, a new chairman with a 10% stake arrived in July, and guidance was withdrawn in August. Tonnesen's stated aim of a simpler, more focused business faces its first test on 13 November.

Scientific Games has filled its top job from inside Brookfield rather than from inside lottery. Whether that is a strength will be decided by contract renewals, not by the release.