By Maria Emma Arnidou, Event Marketing Director at HIPTHER, for the European Gaming Media

During the recent EveryMatrix Media Day at the company’s opening of their new London office, Co-Founders Ebbe Groes (CEO) and Stian Hornsletten sat down with press to share key insights into their strategic vision. In this exclusive Q&A, we explore their views on the European Market, the evolution of EveryMatrix’s business model, leadership philosophy, and the company’s experience in the ever-evolving U.S. market.

Europe is filled with local heroes. It’s far more fragmented than most people think.

Advertisement

You discussed emerging markets in your presentation. What about Europe – is it considered saturated, or are there still areas of growth?

Ebbe Groes: I really don’t think Europe is saturated at all. In fact, big parts of it are still underdeveloped. Take France for example, it doesn’t allow online casino. Germany has effectively banned it. That’s two of Europe’s three largest economies where casino is either outlawed or nearly impossible. So yes, there is still plenty of room for growth.

Stian Hornsletten: And the market is getting more concentrated around a few bigger players, but even then, it’s not as centralized as in the U.S.

Ebbe Groes: Exactly. Europe is filled with local heroes. You won’t find many players dominating across the board. Kindred, Betsson – they’re strong, but when you go country by country and look at market share, the picture is very fragmented. Even with the economies of scale in marketing – say you sponsor a Premier League team – you’re still not getting the full return unless you’re present across multiple markets. That’s what makes Europe so different from the U.S., where a few big players hold all the cards.

We started with a sportsbook. Now we’re building an ecosystem.

Advertisement

EveryMatrix today operates across multiple verticals with a deeply diversified portfolio. Was this the vision from the start, or did it evolve as the company grew?

Stian Hornsletten: The vision definitely evolved quickly as we grew. We started with OddsMatrix, a B2B sportsbook product that was meant to be an off-the-shelf, managed solution – something that didn’t exist back then. Within a year, we had already expanded into turnkey and PAM solutions. By 2010–2011, we had launched the CasinoEngine and started specializing in product verticals.

We’ve always been very innovation-driven. We keep developing new products – some of which are still under wraps – and R&D remains one of the most exciting parts of what we do. Today, most of our top 10 clients are turnkey. While we still offer standalone modules, our growth has come from cross-vertical synergy.

Despite this scale and complexity, you both remain deeply involved in the company’s day-to-day operations. How do you manage to stay on top of everything across products, people, and processes?

Advertisement

Ebbe Groes: It helps that we’ve been here from the start. I wouldn’t want to be hired into this role now and try to learn everything from scratch – but I’ve had 18 years to absorb it all. We’ve built the company in a way that each vertical operates almost like its own business. For example, the sports division has its own CTO, product team, trading team, and even its own support function. That independence gives us breathing room.

It allows me to focus on high-level strategy, like acquisitions – take FSB, for instance. That required a lot of focus at the start, but eventually it will transition into the core business and require less direct involvement.

Stian Hornsletten: Over the years, we’ve also developed strong planning, reporting, and KPI structures across the business. That consistency makes it easier to monitor everything and integrate new divisions. Whether we open a new office or onboard a new team, we already have the systems in place to support them.

Ebbe Groes: And the same goes for finance and HR. When we opened the London office, the HR team already knew how to handle it – we’d opened three the year before. That kind of maturity allows us to move fast without creating chaos.

“In Europe we have 150 competitors in content; in the U.S., maybe 10.”

Advertisement

And what about the U.S. – a market many see as the holy grail of iGaming? What’s your current position there?

Ebbe Groes: To be honest, the U.S. was a tough lesson. We entered hoping to provide a full turnkey solution, but the market didn’t evolve the way we expected. Many well-funded B2C operators pulled out, and that left little demand for companies like us to offer the full stack. We pivoted to focus on one thing: our own gaming content.

Stian Hornsletten: We’re now live in four out of five regulated U.S. states for our own content, and we have agreements with all the major operators. Some new games from SlotMatrix are set to launch by summer, and they’ve already shown strong performance elsewhere – which gives us hope. If we manage to capture even 1–2% market share with our own content, that would already be meaningful.

But it’s been a long and costly process. Every state has its own regulatory requirements, separate hosting, and certification needs. And if one state’s not ready, operators won’t promote your games nationally. It’s frustrating, but it also reduces competition. In Europe we have 150 competitors in content; in the U.S., maybe 10. So if we can endure, there’s long-term potential.

In a fragmented and fast-evolving regulatory landscape, geolocation has become a critical pillar of compliance, fraud prevention, and operational strategy. But as new formats like sweepstakes, prediction markets, and DFS+ gain traction, and new global markets opening up, operators face increasing pressure to adopt location solutions that are not just accurate, but adaptive.

Ron Braunfeld, Chief Revenue Officer at Xpoint, shares his perspective on how operators can navigate this complex ecosystem, what trends are shaping demand, and how early client feedback has helped define a smarter approach to geo-compliance.

Advertisement

In a market crowded with both low-cost entrants and premium vendors, how should operators navigate the geolocation landscape to ensure they get the best solution for them?

Operators should look beyond sticker price and evaluate geolocation providers on overall value and risk mitigation. It’s easy to be tempted by bare-bones, bargain offerings that perform only basic location checks, but those can leave compliance gaps or blind spots. In contrast, premium solutions tend to bundle critical features like fraud detection, high uptime, and real-time support as standard features, turning geolocation from a mere checkbox into a comprehensive compliance tool.

Operators should select a partner that scales with their business. For example, a startup might start with a usage-based plan and expand as it grows, while a large multi-state operator should see volume-based discounts. In short, the best approach is to weigh long-term reliability and capability over rock-bottom cost, ensuring the geolocation service can prevent costly missteps and even unlock useful insights, not just verify a location.

Which verticals or regions have shown the biggest, unexpected appetite for precise location verification?

Advertisement

One surprising vertical has been daily fantasy sports (DFS). Initially, DFS platforms weren’t under the same strict state-by-state regulations as sportsbooks or online casinos, so many assumed they’d take a minimal compliance approach. Instead, as DFS grew, operators became highly proactive. Mature DFS companies began demanding the same level of precision and fraud resistance as regulated betting operators, recognizing that even a small number of out-of-state users slipping through could pose serious legal and reputational risks​.

Another unexpectedly hungry segment is sweepstakes and skill-gaming platforms. These businesses occupy a gray area in terms of gambling law – sweepstakes-based casinos or prize games aren’t clearly ‘gambling’ in the traditional sense. With legal scrutiny mounting, states are already debating whether sweepstakes constitute gambling, proactive operators have implemented precise geolocation controls. Some have even asked providers for state-by-state geofencing to ensure they don’t inadvertently allow play from jurisdictions that might challenge their model​. It’s essentially anticipating regulation. By acting as if they are regulated and rigorously geofencing where users can participate, they demonstrate a commitment to operating above board. It shows that across the board, from fantasy sports to sweepstakes games, the industry increasingly views precise location tech not just as a legal hurdle, but as a foundation for a trustworthy, scalable operation.

Which upcoming innovations or market trends do you expect will have the biggest impact on geo-compliance demand over the next two years?

Several forces are converging to reshape the future of geo-compliance. Geolocation is becoming deeply integrated into the broader security and personalization stack. The most forward-thinking operators are starting to link location intelligence with fraud prevention, responsible gaming, and even targeted marketing. In the next two years, the biggest differentiators won’t just be accuracy or uptime, they will be the ability to power multiple use cases from a single, trusted location platform.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, global market expansion is driving both scale and complexity. Jurisdictions such as Brazil and the UAE are rolling out or tightening their regulatory frameworks, often requiring location validation as a condition of licensure. This will push operators to adopt flexible, modular compliance infrastructure that can be customized market by market, as more areas continue to regulate.

How does early adopter feedback shape your commercial and product roadmap, and what’s a key lesson you’ve learned from client insights?

Client feedback is often the earliest signal of where the market is heading. Operators on the front lines, especially those pioneering new betting formats or entering emerging jurisdictions, tend to uncover challenges that aren’t yet on most providers’ radar. Listening to those early adopters can reveal opportunities to build products that solve real pain points, not just theoretical ones.

Another recurring theme is the need for transparency and flexibility in partnerships. Leading operators now expect their compliance agreements to function as living, breathing documents, regularly updated to mirror regulatory shifts, market developments, and evolving risk profiles. Providers that explain their data sources clearly, pivot swiftly when rules change, and scale support in lockstep with client growth earn lasting trust. This feedback loop, where operators push boundaries and providers refine solutions, has emerged as a core driver of innovation in geolocation. Partnerships are no longer static contracts, they’re collaborative roadmaps for confident, sustainable expansion.

Advertisement