Juroszek family backs GiG to be the smartest player in igaming media

Nominated as a new board member of Gaming Innovation Group (GiG), Mateusz Juroszek, partner and co-owner of investment fund Betplay Capital, backs a transformed GiG to become the biggest disruptor of igaming media.

Yesterday, GiG accelerated its plans to split its business by announcing the composition of two separate boards for its Platform and Media subsidiaries.

Alongside legal expert Cristina Romero de Alba and industry M&A figurehead Nicholas Batram, Mateusz Juroszek will take a seat on the board of GiG Media – the entity that will retain the corporate structure of GIG, split apart from the GiG Platform business.

GiG’s transition is symbolic for the Juroszek family, which, after undertaking various investments, has become the largest shareholder in GiG since July 2023.

Prior to yesterday’s announcement, on 4 April the Juroszek family doubled down on its investment, purchasing a further 100,000 shares of GiG via the MJ Foundation FR to take ownership of 19,424,518 shares, representing 15.06% of GiG’s current shareholding.

The investment represents a new outlook for the Juroszek family as the renowned industry investors look to back challenger ventures such as GiG to shake-up gambling’s terms of play.

Mateusz Juroszek told SBC: “My family’s involvement in GiG has been long-standing and long-term.

“We see great potential in this company and in the industries in which it operates. As investors, we specialise in the igaming sector and we constantly strive to increase our shares in the most promising entities. Therefore, we are constantly looking for opportunities to increase our shareholding in GiG.”

2023 saw the Juroszek family’s investment portfolio bulked by Entain Plc’s £750m acquisition of STS, the family-founded sportsbook which operates as Poland’s largest gambling business.

Diversifying family investments via the BetPlay Capital fund, Mateusz sees strong prospects for a standalone GiG Media, a business which generated full-year 2023 revenues of €90m and net profit results of €15m (x300%).

2024 will see GiG finalise its transformation to take advantage of an igaming media market fragmented by the competitive demands of operating in European and North American markets.

Maintaining growth and balancing costs in both Europe and North American markets has proven an ongoing challenge to GiG competitors within igaming media, a trend the Juroszek family believes that GiG can overcome and take market share. 

As a board member, Mateusz Juroszek will continue to support leadership in identifying proven M&A assets for GiG to build a multi-market media portfolio to scale the business in key markets.

As Mateusz explained to SBC: “GiG is increasing the scale of its media business especially in the European market. It also has successfully completed acquisitions, a good example being the purchase of AskGamblers from Catena Media.

“We will probably be thinking about a smart and effective increase in revenue from the North American market. The acquisition of KaFe Rocks is part of the strategy.

“In addition, we will be looking for new revenue streams in the LatAm market, so I see potential acquisitions in these directions. But there are no specific targets yet.”