Golden Matrix Group Culture Fit
In April, Golden Matrix Group completed its acquisition of MeridianBet Group. Estimated at $300m, the combination of the two companies’ business-to-business (B2B) and
business-to-consumer (B2C) casino, sports betting and tournament platforms created a global enterprise operating on four continents. CEOs Brian Goodman and Zoran Milosevic sit down with G3 to explain why the move is right for all concerned.
Brian, why MeridianBet Group? Zoran, why Golden Matrix Group?
Brian: We started this process a few years ago and there are many reasons why MeridianBet Group was the business we landed on. Tere are cultural similarities between both companies, both are highly profitable, both have always operated without debt, and each has their own technology stack. We wouldn't buy something that was burning money or didn't fit with the core values of what we do and how we operate. Prior to the acquisition, we were primarily in the B2B online casino space alongside a raffle ticket type business, RKings, in the UK market, which actually just posted its strongest quarterly revenues thus far in Q2. We wanted to scale the Group and were on the lookout for a company with strong sports betting technology. Together, I think we make a good team. We've just posted some impressive interim results, achieving record revenues of more than US$39m in Q2, and will continue to scale these consolidated businesses whilst looking for further acquisition opportunities. We were also granted two new major licenses, in South Africa and Peru, earlier this summer.
Zoran: Te most important parameter for joining with Golden Matrix Group was the cultural fit. Golden Matrix Group is a conservatively run company, like MeridianBet Group, and both are run by veterans of the gaming business. Brian and his team are also wholly focused on gaming and that was a big appeal for us. On top of this, their product suite and markets of operation are complementary to ours. In the jurisdictions they
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operate, we don't operate, and vice versa. Te products we have in the portfolio, they don't have, and vice versa. Tere is no conflict of interest whatsoever. We continue to learn daily from each other, exchange opinions and cross-sell business.
So, Golden Matrix Group were on the lookout for acquisition and remain so. Zoran, was MeridianBet Group looking to be acquired?
Zoran: Tat's an interesting question. MeridianBet Group has long held ambitions to ultimately become a public company and we were in the process of becoming listed, with the London Stock Exchange our primary target. We submitted our application a few weeks after Brexit but the situation on the financial markets at that time meant we didn't receive the valuation we were after. We were enjoying a record-breaking year, but it was amidst the backdrop of a political crisis. We never abandoned the ambition of becoming listed, just the London Stock Exchange. Ten the pandemic hit.
In June 2020 we were inundated with calls from the US, a market that, frankly, we weren't paying overmuch attention to because our estimates were that it would take around 10 years for the market to regulate state by state without federal licences. However, regulation expanded much faster than anticipated and that's how we ended up talking with several companies including one of the biggest in the world, but we didn't come to
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