Selected Quarterly Financial Data, Unaudited (Details 2) (USD $)	3 Months Ended				12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended			9 Months Ended	3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended	3 Months Ended				12 Months Ended		0 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2012	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Aug. 20, 2012	Sep. 30, 2012 Barcrest	Jun. 30, 2012 Barcrest	Sep. 30, 2011 Barcrest	Sep. 30, 2010 Racing Business	Dec. 31, 2012 Lottery contracts	Jun. 30, 2012 Lottery contracts	Dec. 31, 2010 Lottery contracts	Dec. 31, 2012 Lottery contracts	Dec. 31, 2011 Global Draw equipment	Sep. 30, 2011 Global Draw equipment	Jun. 30, 2011 Global Draw equipment	Mar. 31, 2011 Global Draw equipment	Dec. 31, 2011 Global Draw equipment	Dec. 31, 2010 Global Draw equipment	Sep. 19, 2012 Senior subordinated notes due in 2016	Dec. 31, 2012 Senior subordinated notes due in 2016
Selected Quarterly Financial Data, Unaudited
Accelerated depreciation expense	$ 24,000,000	$ 1,900,000								$ 1,500,000				$ 5,800,000					$ 1,200,000	$ 5,200,000	$ 6,400,000	$ 8,300,000
Incremental Depreciation									1,600,000
Debt Instrument, interest rate, stated percentage								6.25%																7.875%
Write-down of assets held for sale		15,500,000			0	0	8,029,000
Long-lived asset impairment charges										2,400,000		8,029,000	5,800,000		17,500,000	5,800,000						2,500,000
Employee termination and restructuring costs	800,000	1,800,000	6,000,000	2,900,000							1,000,000						1,000,000
Loss on early extinguishment of long-term debt																		4,200,000
Gain or loss foreign currency forward contracts related to the Italian instant ticket tender process		6,700,000
Loss on early extinguishment of long-term debt related to the repurchase of the 2012 Notes					(15,464,000)	(4,185,000)	(2,932,000)																(15,464,000)
Valuation allowance	$ 241,156,000				$ 241,156,000	$ 236,296,000