Revenue Recognition - Additional Information (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2019	Sep. 30, 2020	Sep. 30, 2019
Revenue from External Customer [Line Items]
Rental income revenue outside scope of new revenue standard	$ 62	$ 91	$ 148	$ 282
Amounts recognized in revenue			61
Allowance for Loan and Lease Losses, Period Increase (Decrease)	1		41
Lottery \| Instant products \| Accounting Standards Update 2014-09 [Member]
Revenue from External Customer [Line Items]
Amounts recognized in revenue	$ 26	$ 20	$ 66	$ 69

Amount of increase (decrease) of allowance reserve for credit loss.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 942
-SubTopic 210
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.9-03.7(d))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6876686&loc=d3e534808-122878

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_AllowanceForLoanAndLeaseLossesPeriodIncreaseDecrease
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of revenue recognized that was previously included in balance of obligation to transfer good or service to customer for which consideration from customer has been received or is due.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 606
-SubTopic 10
-Section 50
-Paragraph 8
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=118956577&loc=SL49130549-203045

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_ContractWithCustomerLiabilityRevenueRecognized
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_EntityWideInformationRevenueFromExternalCustomerLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

The total amount of revenue recognized for the period from operating leases, including minimum lease revenue, contingent revenue, percentage revenue and sublease revenue.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/otherTransitionRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 840
-SubTopic 20
-Section 25
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=77902458&loc=d3e39896-112707

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OperatingLeasesIncomeStatementLeaseRevenue
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	duration

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_StatementBusinessSegmentsAxis=sgms_LotterySystemsGroupMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	srt_ProductOrServiceAxis=sgms_InstantProductsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_AdjustmentsForNewAccountingPronouncementsAxis=us-gaap_AccountingStandardsUpdate201409Member
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: