Golden Matrix Group finds itself in a period of transition. Earlier this month, Brian Goodman stepped down as group CEO, calling time on his nine-year tenure with the firm. In his stead now stands William Scott, an industry veteran who has served on the Golden Matrix board since April 2024.
On paper, it appears to be a good time for Scott to assume control, albeit briefly. The company came off the back of reporting $47.3m for the third quarter of 2025, up 15% year on year. MerdianBet, acquired by Golden Matrix in April 2024 in a $300m deal, was a major contributor to the positive quarter. The operator recorded revenue of $32.5m for Q3, with respective 30% and 25% increases in online casino and sports betting. The performance in Brazil was highlighted in the company’s earnings report, with operations in the Latam country said to be “scaling fast”.
Coming up to 18 months after the MerdianBet acquisition, Scott speaks to EGR about how the operator is mastering the art of finding its niche within its chosen markets.
EGR: How have you found the transition to the CEO role?
William Scott (WS): It’s not been a difficult transition from a knowledge perspective, partly because I’ve been on the board since April of last year, and because I’ve known MeridianBet – which is a huge percentage of the business – for a long time. Having to get into the real weeds of it all takes a bit more time, but it’s exciting. It comes from my passion for the gaming business, and it’s so much fun to be there at the coalface.
EGR: Do you have any desires to take on the role full time?
WS: I am currently focused on ensuring a smooth transition and ramping up execution, which is my sole priority over the next several months. I will stay as long as it takes to ensure that this transition is completed successfully.
EGR: Are there plans to expand your US market presence in the near future?
WS: What we’re doing is moving from what we define as emerging markets towards prime markets. We do have a presence in the US with a New Jersey licence, and we’re looking to expand beyond that, but that’s very much on the B2B front. The focus is on our Expanse Studio which is developing games. It’s growing in the US and is soon to be in Ontario and all other places around the world.
You always keep looking at markets. We did, ages ago, look at the US from a B2C perspective. We couldn’t find something which worked, which, retrospectively, is good, because it’s a tough market. However, the US could change. Prediction markets and sweepstakes and all of that, may change the market positively and negatively.
EGR: It’s a little over a year since the MeridianBet acquisition. Has the brand performed as expected?
WS: I believe it has. If you look at our last quarter the business grew over 15%, largely driven by Meridian. Our B2C business continues to grow as Zoran (Milosevic, MeridianBet CEO) likes to say, and I do agree with him, the best days of sports betting and online casino are ahead of us. It’s just the start. Obviously various markets are at different points of maturity, but we believe that this is there’s a lot of opportunity ahead of us. We see continued growth, and the business has grown very nicely.
EGR: What do you see as the key drivers of the casino and sports betting growth experienced in Q3?
WS: Part of it is the natural growth of the markets which we’re in. The other thing is the new markets which we entered, in particular Brazil. We’re constantly focusing on the offering which we have, looking at factors like selection engines on the game side, so you don’t have to go to page 365 of your casinos to find your favourite game. It’s about improving that offering. We’ve just migrated from our old platform to our new platform, which comes with AI, machine learning and everything else. It enables us to do a lot more because you’re not dealing with legacy technology.
EGR: How will the 15% player deposit tax affect plans to scale in Brazil?
WS: Everyone’s going to have the same issue. As we do in other markets, we will adjust our offering to make sure we’re still participating. The reality is that this has happened before. You can see things like this happening in the UK as everyone’s going to change their offering to make them profitable in a new landscape. Our obsession is on driving greater operational efficiency. The tax will potentially get rid of some of the smaller operators, of which there’s a great concentration; therefore I think we can participate in the market.
EGR: Some operators have talked of struggles in the Brazilian market. How have you made it work to the point where you’re looking to scale up?
WS: It’s where we play in that particular market which gives us this ability to scale up. We will never be number one in that market, but we will have a profitable position where we’ll be generating great revenues with positive results on the bottom line. We’re obsessed by that. To liken it back to the UK again, your immediate instinct was that the UK was a market of three or four operators, and no one else would exist. Reality is, there are a good couple hundred. On the longtail, they don’t make money, but there’s this big chunk in the middle outside of the big boys, which make money. There is ability to scale from that position. We’ve got some interesting plans which you’ll see us do in Brazil over the coming months.
EGR: After a record 2024 and a thus far successful 2025, what can be expected from the business in 2026?
WS: Our focus next year is on execution and really accelerating what we do. We need to push on all cylinders to do that. There may be a bit of a strategic shift from only focusing on emerging markets, but going after what we define as prime markets, such as Canada, Brazil and the US. Some of those will be on a B2C basis, and some would be on a B2B basis. Overall, it is more of the same, but with lots of push. As we grow the business, our net margin will grow because we have operational leveraging which will kick in through doing that.
The post Golden Matrix Group CEO on having “fun at the coalface” first appeared on EGR Intel.
Interim chief William Scott speaks to EGR about taking the reins at the company on a temporary basis, and the performance of MerdianBet almost 18 months after acquisition
The post Golden Matrix Group CEO on having “fun at the coalface” first appeared on EGR Intel.