Bragg Gaming CEO Dominic Mansour talks to Cantech Letter

Could a Netflix for gaming actually work? In fact, it already is.

While many scramble in the post-COVID world to make sense of the business landscape, a relatively new player called Bragg Gaming (Bragg Gaming Stock Quote, Chart, News TSXV:BRAG) is already there. Where is there? It’s an online technology platform that delivers turnkey solutions for thousands of lottery, sportsbook and casino operators.

Plug and play. And profit, apparently.

Bragg, which has seen growth all over Europe, has now set its sites on other lucrative markets, including North America. The plan seems to be working: citing organic growth and a constant onboarding of new customers, Bragg’s recent numbers showed revenue up a whopping 44 per cent.

Cantech Letter talked to Bragg Gaming CEO Dominic Mansour about what is next for the breakout company.

Dominic, can you tell us how Bragg Gaming came together?

A Couple of years ago we were looking for high growth tech businesses in the B2B gaming sector. I’ve been in this gaming world for 20 years now and it was clear from the outset that ORYX was an exceptional business, perfectly poised to capitalize on its modern technology in a world full of ageing suppliers.

What is ORYX Gaming and who are its customers?

We’re a full turnkey gaming technology solution partner. We do everything from casino through to player management, sportsbook and lottery. Our real growth right now is coming through our aggregator platform. Think of this like a Netflix of casino games. A platform our customers can access 8000 games through one integration.

“Our current European growth is exceptional and really driving short term EBITDA and revenue. The United States, though, is just starting to take off as is Latin America…”

What’s the growth profile like for the various parts of Bragg Gaming’s business? For instance, can you compare Casino to Sportsbook in terms of market size?

Casino is typically has higher LTV (lifetime value) than sportsbook. Ultimately the relative markets are similar but obviously more people bet on sports than play casino. Our current European growth is exceptional and really driving short term EBITDA and revenue. The United States, though, is just starting to take off as is Latin America.

How has COVID-19 affected Bragg Gaming?

Obviously let me start by saying how we genuinely feel for all those negatively impacted by Covid.
Whilst the sports betting industry has been destroyed by the lack of elite professional sport to bet on, those of us whose core is casino have really benefited from lock down and the hunt for home entertainment. As a result, just like Netflix again we’ve seen a very material positive impact on revenues.

Sure it’s competitive but with speed that technology moves, those with modern, scalable and easily integrated platforms can compete with the best of them…

What does the competitive landscape for Bragg look like? Is this a fragmented industry?

Bragg has carved out a niche amongst our competitors allowing us to win new business fast. From that platform we’re able to compete with significantly larger groups. Sure it’s competitive but with speed that technology moves, those with modern, scalable and easily integrated platforms can compete with the best of them.

Growth through acquisition, organic growth, or both? How would you characterize your plan going forward?

Combination of the two. We believe in acquiring high growth businesses that can help support and accelerate our existing business. We have seen fantastic growth in Oryx to date and any acquisition will be focused on building on that. We’re looking for complimentary businesses – be that geographically in territories we are not, or complimenting our existing strengths and weaknesses. Adding areas we don’t offer (sports or affiliates for examples) or straight out competitors where we can maximize cost synergies and leverage one another’s technical strengths.

We want to keep on pushing the boundaries. Building best in class technology whilst growing our global customer base.

You just reported Q1 results that saw 44 per cent revenue growth and 100 per cent growth in EBITDA. What is driving these numbers?

Quite simply organic growth combined with new customer on boarding. Existing customers make a bigger short term impact but over time we’re starting to see the revenue filter through.

You rely on platform partners to supply thousands of games to end users. What is the nature of your relationship with them? Is there any chance of an “end-around” in which they decide to cut you out?

We provide a platform through which our suppliers can access our customers’ end users. That’s a massive distribution opportunity. Sure they could go round to individual customers but they’d lose all the rest. It takes a lot of time to build out the integrations into the operators, making a really big barrier to entry.

What do you want to accomplish in the next 12-18 months?

We want to keep on pushing the boundaries. Building best in class technology whilst growing our global customer base.