GiG bolsters Platform & Sportsbook senior team with Saxon hire
Saxon takes on the role at GiG with immediate effect. He will lead the development of GiG’s solutions including engineering and infrastructure, platform migrations and GiG Data and GiG Logic.
An experienced professional, Saxon has worked across the igaming and financial sectors for over 30 years. He joins GiG after more than four years as senior vice-president of technology strategy and architecture at Sportradar.
Prior to this, Saxon spent four and a half years with WorldPay and had a spell working for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Earlier in his career, he was also a technical architect at Barclays.
“I am excited to be joining GiG and leading their technology team at the start of what promises to be an extremely impressive growth phase,” Saxon said.
“The foundations that are in place are an amazing springboard to help us accelerate our partners’ businesses. I’m looking forward to helping GiG bring these great capabilities to them, both new and existing.”
Hiring spree continues for GiG Platform and Sportsbook division
Saxon’s appointment represents the latest major hire for the GiG Platform and Sportsbook arm. This comes in the wake of GiG deciding to split its Platform and Sportsbook arm and Media division.
The decision was taken following a strategic review. Each business will run independently as publicly listed companies.
Richard Carter was appointed CEO of the Platform and Sportsbook business in August. GiG has continued to build the business’ senior teams over the past few months. Other recent additions include Andrew Cochrane joining as its chief business officer last month.
Carter welcomed Saxon’s appointment to the GiG Platform and Sportsbook business.
“Matt’s appointment is a significant step towards helping us reach the high bar we have set for the business,” Carter said. “We are continuing a process of bringing together the strongest leadership in sports betting and igaming.
“I am confident that his arrival will help further fuel our strategic plans, establishing us as a leader in technological advancement and commerciality across the igaming industry.”
The changing face of GiG
Splitting the business is just part of the story at GiG, with a host of other developments in recent months.
In September, Richard Brown stepped down as chief executive of GiG ahead of schedule. The move was announced in May but Brown was due to remain at GiG until the end of 2023. Brown is moving to Glitnor Group as CEO in January.
Days later, GiG appointed Jonas Warrer as acting group CEO following Brown’s departure. Warrer has served as chief marketing officer at GiG since April of 2021.
Moving into November and GiG announced the acquisition of KaFe Rocks for €35.0m. At the time, GiG said this would accelerate its market presence in the North American market.
Also in November, GiG reported revenue of €31.8m in Q3, an all-time high for the business. The group said this was driven by a record performance by its GiG Media division, which drew €22.5m in quarterly revenue.
Just last week, GiG also completed the issuance of €75.0m equivalent senior secured bonds. This was to raise additional funds for the business, including to help fund the acquisition of KaFe Rocks.