our strategy to become a corporate-led business
It’s been 14 years since Matevž Mazij, Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board at Bragg Gaming Group, shook up the tech
provider landscape with the establishment of Oryx Gaming. Sitting down with G3 Media, Matevž reflects on the challenging integration process that followed the company’s acquisition and sets out Bragg’s long-term strategy to become a corporate-led business.
Matevž, take us back to when you founded Oryx Gaming back in Slovenia back in 2010. What gap did you see in the market and how did the turnkey technology address the challenges of the time?
In 2010 you essentially only had two platforms, Playtech and Microgaming - and to a certain extent OpenBet but that was specifically designed for UK sportsbooks. You also really had only three content providers with Microgaming, Playtech and NetEnt.
Tere were a lot of new operators and regulations being drawn up for numerous markets including Spain in 2011 and Germany in 2012, and rumours that the US was going to regulate its own market as well.
We saw the opportunity to close that gap by establishing an independent technology provider that served the needs of those new operators entering those markets. With our heritage in land-based gaming, we saw an opportunity to offer a fully integrated solution, which essentially was an iGaming solution integrated with an existing casino floor management system tech stack.
Back then, a lot of existing floor management systems were on the tech stacks of various suppliers, such as Konami, Bally’s and IGT, who mostly controlled the market.
Tere were only a few content providers who were entirely integrated with their PAMs, so operators had very little options. In most cases they were forced to use a single content provider for the iGaming vertical. In 2012/13, we started seeing more demand for unique and local content because large tier content providers had started acquiring operators in regional markets and they wanted localised, regional content, so that’s when we started building an aggregated portfolio and delivering that aggregated portfolio to these operators.
Matevž Mazij Chief Executive Officer Bragg Gaming Group
How did the acquisition by Bragg come about? When did discussions commence?
We'd already started conversations about potential US market regulation or deregulation back in 2018. Tere were several different groups that were trying to introduce iGaming technology to prospective future B2C operators in Canada, the United States, and across certain Latin American markets such as Mexico and Colombia. Te acquisition came on the back of an initiative started by a group of private investors to create an investment vehicle to acquire B2B assets.
Tese investors already had several different B2C assets in various regional markets across the globe, primarily in Latin American and the Caribbean with some in the Canadian market. Tey also had a media asset called GiveMeSport, which was a sports news portal. Tey wanted to merge these assets into a media driven B2C sportsbook that would have had a proprietary technology stack. With the benefit of hindsight, they were probably too early to a certain extent, but it's something that DraftKings has done slightly later with much bigger success.
We ended up becoming a tier one supplier to lots of different operators around the world. On the back of that acquisition, we have been able
to successfully raise money to fund the further acquisition of a U.S. based games studio and a second acquisition of an aggregation platform and content provider, also based in the US.
While it was a difficult transaction and a very challenging integration process afterwards, we have consolidated into a one-company, one-team structure.
After a turbulent period in which the company had several different CEO’s and changes in management, we are now in a good position to continue our growth trajectory, especially in the U.S and Canada but additionally in other regional markets across the globe.
What did that lengthy and challenging integration process look like organisationally, logistically, and technically? What did that involve?
Firstly, we had to consolidate our respective financial statements into one. We went from being a privately-owned company operating out of Europe to becoming a publicly listed Canadian company, initially listing on TSX (Toronto Stock Exchange) Venture Exchange, then we uplisted to the TSX and then in 2021 we listed the company on NASDAQ. Tese processes brought a lot of challenges to the table. Ten you have integration of teams and the cultural challenges this entails.
We went from being a very European company to becoming an international company with six different offices around the world, including the United States, Canada, UK, Malta, India, and Slovenia. Ten you have a third challenge, which is how do you retain your key talent? Tese were the main integration issues apart are from all the regulatory and compliance issues associated with going from privately-owned to publicly-listed.
What was your motivation for staying on the Board of Directors, becoming the Chair of the Board of Directors, before stepping in as CEO?
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA P137
Bragg Gaming Group:
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