International Game Technology (NYSE: IGT) saw its shares decline on Wednesday following the lottery behemoth's late Tuesday announcement of a cybersecurity incident. 

In a Form 6-K submission to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), IGT announced that on November 17, it learned “that an unauthorized external party accessed specific systems” and that this technological breach caused some disruptions.

"Promptly after detecting the issue, the company activated its cybersecurity incident response plan and launched an investigation with the support of its external advisors to assess and remediate the unauthorized activity. The company has also proactively taken certain systems offline to help protect them. The company’s ongoing investigation and response include efforts to bring its systems back online,” said IGT in the filing.

IGT is among the biggest suppliers of lottery services, offering state games and scratch-off tickets, both in the US and globally. 

The Financial Effect Might Be Insignificant 

Numerous instances of cybersecurity incidents in the gaming industry have proven expensive for the targeted firms, yet currently, IGT stated that the financial impacts of the latest attack, if they exist, remain unclear. 

In a note to clients on Wednesday, Stifel analyst Jeffrey Stantial indicated that the financial effects of the cyber breach will probably be “insignificant” if IGT takes prompt action to resolve it, which seems to be the effort the company is making. 

“Pre-established business continuity plans are underway, and we believe IGT can mostly maintain ‘business as usual’ while the breach is isolated and remedied — though prolonged internal systems shutdown could result in slight delays in product/software deliveries,” wrote Stantial.

Stantial additionally noted that the breach seems limited to IGT's internal systems rather than the consumer-oriented aspects of the business, and that if the incident causes shipping delays, they would probably be counted in days or weeks, not months. 

Mysterious Timing of IGT Cyber Problems 

The IGT cybersecurity incident arose shortly after investors in Everi Holdings (NYSE: EVRI) greenlit a deal for that company to merge with IGT's global gaming and PlayDigital divisions and be taken over by a branch of the private equity firm Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO). 

The $6.3 billion deal was revealed in July and will generate $4.05 billion in gross revenue for IGT, while the rest will be allocated to Everi. The agreement is anticipated to finalize in the third quarter of 2025. 

Currently, there is no indication that the hackers who attacked IGT did so because of the merger or to interfere with that process.