Bragg Gaming Group has named chief operating officer Morten Tonnesen as interim chief executive after Matevž Mazij stepped down from the role.

Mazij becomes a strategic advisor to the Toronto-based supplier with immediate effect, a position the company said carries no day-to-day management responsibility. Tonnesen takes over the running of the business and reports to the board, according to Bragg’s announcement on 6 November.

End of the Oryx era

Mazij has been chief executive since August 2023. He founded Oryx Gaming, the Slovenian content and platform business that Bragg acquired in 2018 and which forms the core of its B2B offering. He sat on Bragg’s board from February 2021 until July this year.

The company did not give a reason for the change and did not say whether it has started a search for a permanent successor. Its shares fell 9.2% to C$1.18 in Toronto on the day of the announcement, Gaming Intelligence reported.

Chair Matt Davey said the board’s focus for the next phase would be “disciplined execution, improving balance sheet strength, operating cash flow, and development and deployment of market leading technology, content and services”. He added that Tonnesen has the operational experience to deliver against those tests and that the board has full confidence in him.

Operator and supplier background

Tonnesen joined Bragg as chief operating officer in March 2026. He has more than 17 years of experience in igaming, sports betting and technology on both sides of the market. On the operator side he co-founded and later exited sports betting brand BetWarrior and spent six years at PokerStars. In B2B he was chief commercial officer at Shape Games, which was later sold to Kambi, and chief growth officer at engagement platform Xtremepush.

“My focus is execution, delivering for our operator partners and running a simpler and more focused business,” Tonnesen said, thanking Mazij for his support through the transition and for what he had built.

The choice of an operations executive rather than a finance or corporate development figure signals where the board sees the immediate work. Davey’s emphasis on operating cash flow and the balance sheet reflects pressure on smaller listed suppliers, which must keep funding new content and platform development while larger rivals consolidate studios and distribution. Bragg has also spent recent years expanding its US footprint, which brings fresh state-by-state certification and compliance costs.

Results next week

The handover comes a week before Bragg reports its third-quarter results, which the company has scheduled for 13 November. Those numbers will be the first test of the board’s stated priorities on cash flow and the balance sheet, and investors will be looking for any update on leadership plans alongside them.

Bragg, which is listed on both the Nasdaq and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker BRAG, supplies proprietary and third-party casino content, its player account management platform and a range of managed services to regulated operators in Europe and North America, including in Ontario and several US igaming states.

The move adds Bragg to a run of senior changes among casino suppliers this autumn, as content providers contend with slowing growth in core US igaming markets and tighter margins in Europe.

Mozambique’s first dedicated regulatory framework for online casino gaming is due to take effect on 20 November, creating a concession regime that sits separately from the country’s land-based casino licences.

The rules were approved by the Council of Ministers on 14 July and, according to trade press reports, published as Decree No. 61/2026 on 21 September. Regional trade outlets, citing Mozambique’s Ministry of Economy, report that the regulation enters into force on 20 November.

Announcing the approval in July, government spokesman Inocêncio Impissa said the regulation covered games of chance played remotely through electronic platforms, computer systems and other digital channels, according to Club of Mozambique, citing the Lusa news agency. He described online gambling as an autonomous modality, separate from traditional land-based casino concessions.

Concessions and local ownership

Operators will need a state concession to offer online casino games and must be incorporated under Mozambican law. Eligibility is reported to extend to existing land-based casino concessionaires and to locally licensed online betting operators. Reports of the decree set a minimum share capital of 100m meticais, about US$1.6m, and require at least 26% of the paid-up capital to be held by Mozambican shareholders. By comparison, land-based casino concessionaires face a minimum capital requirement of around US$2.7m.

Concessionaires are also reported to face guarantees of 15m meticais covering player balances and fines, and 10m meticais tied to payment of the special tax on online gaming. The rate of that tax has not been widely reported. Land-based casinos in Mozambique pay a special gaming tax of 20% to 35% of gross gaming revenue depending on the length of their concession.

Licensed sites must operate on .mz domains. The games covered include roulette, blackjack, baccarat, poker, bingo, keno and virtual gaming machines.

Payments, data and player protection

All transactions, including deposits, stakes, withdrawals and prizes, must be denominated exclusively in meticais and processed through financial institutions and payment providers authorised in Mozambique. Withdrawals are reported to have a 48-hour processing limit, and operators must keep player, betting and financial transaction records for at least ten years.

The framework bars minors, self-excluded individuals, gambling company staff, people involved in overseeing the sector and certain public officials and financial-sector workers from playing. Operators must offer voluntary deposit limits, self-exclusion and temporary account suspension, and publish game rules, payment methods and limits.

Before going live, operators must also demonstrate technical capability and complete certification and approval of their platforms, and gambling data is reportedly required to be stored in Mozambique.

Enforcement against the offshore market is built in. Authorities will be able to order the blocking of unlicensed platforms and restrict related payments, with internet service providers and telecoms operators reportedly required to apply blocks within 48 hours of notification.

Launch still some way off

The 20 November date marks when the regime applies, not when licensed sites go live. No concessions have yet been awarded, and applicants will need to meet the capital, ownership and guarantee requirements and pass technical certification before they can accept players. Trade press reports suggest a functioning market may not emerge until mid-2027.

The move adds Mozambique to a growing list of African jurisdictions formalising online gambling, and its combination of local ownership thresholds, currency controls and rapid site blocking suggests the government is aiming to capture tax from a market currently served largely by offshore brands.

France’s Autorité de la concurrence has cleared Banijay Gaming’s acquisition of JOA, the country’s second-largest casino operator, without conditions.

The competition authority announced the decision on 4 November following a phase one review. Banijay Gaming, the Betclic owner, notified the deal on 7 October. The decision, numbered 26-DCC-215, is formally recorded as the acquisition of exclusive control of JOA by Lov Group, the holding company that controls Banijay. The full text has not yet been published.

The review took less than a month from notification, comfortably inside the 25 working days allowed for a phase one examination, and the authority accepted the deal without requiring commitments or disposals.

A first for the regulator

The Autorité said the transaction was the first time it had examined a deal creating an operator active in both land-based casinos and online gambling in France.

There was no horizontal overlap to assess, as the Lov Group was not active in the French casino sector. The authority also declined to analyse the deal on the basis that online casino might be legalised in France, saying it did not consider that scenario sufficiently plausible. Online casino games remain prohibited in the French market, where licensed online gambling is limited to sports betting, horse racing and poker.

Its main concern was conglomerate effects. The Autorité treated online poker and land-based casino table games, including poker, as related markets because they share a player base, and examined whether the combined group could pursue an omnichannel strategy that ties online and casino offers together commercially.

It concluded that the deal would not harm competition, pointing to the parties’ market shares, the presence of major competitors and the small share of poker in JOA’s casino business.

The deal

Banijay Gaming announced in July that it had committed to buy JOA from funds managed by Blackstone and Kings Park Capital under a put option agreement. The price was not disclosed.

The put option structure is common in French acquisitions. It allows consultation with employee representatives to take place before a binding sale agreement is signed, with the buyer committed to proceed if the sellers exercise the option.

JOA operates 33 casinos in France and generated approximately €430m in gross revenues in 2025, a figure that combines gross gaming revenue with leisure and hospitality income. It employs more than 2,050 people. Banijay Gaming will own 100% of the business, financed through a mix of equity and debt, and Laurent Lassiaz will remain chairman.

Banijay Gaming is led by Antoine Jouteau, who was appointed chief executive of the division in July, shortly after the JOA agreement was announced.

The acquisition gives Betclic’s parent a physical estate alongside its online sports betting and poker brands, and positions the group to cross-sell between the two channels. Betclic is one of the leading online operators in France, where competition in online poker is also shifting: Betsson France this week won an ANJ poker licence and clearance to share liquidity.

Remaining steps

Merger clearance was one of several conditions. Banijay said in July that completion, expected in the second half of 2026, was also subject to consultation with JOA’s employee representatives and to casino gaming regulatory approvals. The group has not yet announced completion.

The Autorité’s decision can still be appealed. With the competition hurdle cleared unconditionally, attention turns to the casino licensing approvals and to whether the combined group can turn its online and land-based footprint into a meaningful advantage in a French market that still bars online casino.