MRDN Earnings Call

OperatorGood morning, everyone, and welcome to Meridian Holdings First Quarter 2026 Earnings Call. On today's call are William Scott, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Holdings, Rich Christensen, Chief Financial Officer of Meridian Holdings, and Zoran Milosevic, Chief Executive Officer of Meridianbet Group, a subsidiary of Meridian Holdings. Following management's prepared remarks, we will conduct a question and answer session. At the conclusion of the call, the recording and supporting materials will be available on the Meridian Holdings Investor Relations website at www.meridian-holdings.com.

OperatorAs a reminder, today's call will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. These statements are based on various assumptions and subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. For a complete discussion of these factors, please refer to our most recent 10-K and 10-Q filings and other public disclosures available at sec.gov. Non-GAAP financial measures will be discussed on today's call. Reconciliations to the nearest GAAP measures can be found in our earnings press release available on our investor relations website. I will now turn the call over to William Scott, Interim Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Holdings. William?

William ScottThank you and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us for our first quarter 2026 earnings call. I'll begin with some context on what this quarter represents for Meridian Holdings because I think it merits a moment of reflection before we move into the numbers. Q1 2026 is the first quarter in which we reported GAAP profitability under Meridian Holdings brand. And that is not a milestone we take lightly. It reflects the collective work of every team across our 25+ regulated markets, and it reflects the operational discipline and strategic clarity that we are committed to when we began this journey together. Now let me take you through the headline results. We delivered revenue of 50.1 million in Q1, up 17% over the same period last year. Exactly in line with the guidance we issued during our Q4 2025 earnings call. Adjusted EBITDA came in at $6.3 million, representing a 12.6% margin and a 26% increase year over year.

William ScottImportantly, we exceeded our previously issued adjusted EBITDA guidance of $6.1 million, which reflects both the strength in our Meridian operations and our ongoing commitment to cost discipline. And we delivered net income of $2.2 million, $0.18 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $300,000 last year. I want to be direct about what these results mean. They demonstrate that our model is working. We are growing the top line at scale, managing costs with discipline, generating profit, and continuing to fortify the balance sheet. Total debt declined 54% year over year. Net debt fell 62% year over year. Our leverage ratio now stands at just 0.53 times annualised adjusted EBITDA, the strongest capital structure since the 2024 merger.

William Scott2025 Was the year we proved our operational delivery. Record revenue, meaningful debt reduction, and a rebrand that positioned this company for the next chapter of its growth. 2026 Is about executing against that positioning with discipline and confidence. My priorities in 2026 remain clear and consistent: deliver on guidance, maintain operational discipline across every market, continue the balance sheet trajectory we established last year, and communicate clearly with you every quarter about what the numbers mean and what drives them. Every decision we make is grounded in long-term shareholder value. With that, I'll turn over to Rich to walk you through the financials in detail. Rich?

Rich ChristensenThank you, William, and good morning, everyone. I'll walk through the first quarter results in detail, covering revenue, margins, profitability, the balance sheet, and our guidance for the second quarter of 2026. Revenue for the first quarter was $50.1 million, an increase of $7.4 million or 17% compared to $42.7 million in the first quarter of last year. This growth was broad-based across our portfolio but was led by MeridianBet, which delivered $34.9 million in the quarter, up approximately 26% over last year and accounted for approximately 70% of total company revenue. Revenue growth was driven by continued expansion in active users and depositors, scale in our established markets across Europe and Africa, and early contributions from our Brazil operations, which launched in 2025. Gross profit reached 28.1 million for the quarter, representing a gross margin of 56.2%. This compares to gross profit of 24.2 million and gross margin of 56.6% in Q1 of 2025.

Rich ChristensenGross margin was consistent with the prior period, declining only 46 basis points despite the evolving revenue mix, particularly with MeridianBets' high-margin contributions being partially offset by the early-stage economics in our smaller markets as they begin to scale. In nominal terms, gross profit grew 16% year-over-year. Reflecting a combination of strong top-line momentum and our continued focus on high-margin B2C casino and sportsbook operations. Turning to operating expenses. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $25 million in Q1 of 2026 compared with $24.3 million in Q1 of last year. This modest increase reflects disciplined expense management even as we continue to invest in technology, regulatory compliance infrastructure, and market expansion capabilities, including our AI-powered platform investments that Zoran will speak to in more detail. Income from operations was $3.2 million for the quarter, a significant improvement from the operating loss of $0.1 million in Q1 of last year.

Rich ChristensenThis $3.3 million swing reflects the operating leverage inherent in our business model, as we scale revenue and maintain cost discipline.

Rich ChristensenNet income was $2.2 million or $0.18 per diluted share. This compares to a net loss of $300,000 or $0.02 per diluted share in Q1 of last year. This represents a return to profitability, the first of many profitable quarters under the Meridian Holdings brand, and a meaningful milestone as we demonstrate the earnings power of our scaled diversified platform.

Rich ChristensenAdjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $6.3 million, up 26% from $5.0 million in Q1 of 2025 and ahead of our previously issued guidance of $6.1 million. Adjusted EBITDA margin was 12.6%, representing approximately 86 basis points of margin expansion versus last year. The adjusted EBITDA outperformance was driven by the strength in MeridianBets' core operating metrics and a continued operating leverage of our B2B content business.

Rich ChristensenThe balance sheet continues its positive trajectory in Q1 of 2026. I'd like to highlight on a few key metrics that demonstrate the financial strength we're building. First, cash and cash equivalents were $16.2 million at, at quarter end. Total debt was $29.7 million, down from $34.7 million at year-end 2025 and representing a 54% reduction compared to Q1 2025. Net debt stands at $13.4 million, a 62% reduction from last year, translating to a net debt leverage ratio of just 0.53 times annualized adjusted EBITDA. The balance sheet is in great shape and it's improving. Operating cash flow for the quarter was $5.2 million, underscoring the cash-generating nature of our business and supporting our ongoing debt reductions trajectory and reinvestment in technology and regulated market expansion.

Rich ChristensenTurning to our segments.

Rich ChristensenMeridian Bet Group delivered Q1 revenue of $34.9 million, up 26% year-over-year and representing 70% of total company revenue. Segment gross margin was 69.3%, reflecting the attractive unit economics of our core sports betting and online casino operations, Segment operating income grew 37% year over year to $6.6 million. Zoran will provide more detail on MeridianBets operational performance in just a moment.

Rich ChristensenOur RKings and Classics for a Cause segment delivered combined revenue of $12.1 million in the first quarter. This is up 9% from the prior year, and it represents 24% of total company revenue. At RKings, Our UK-based pay-to-enter prize competition business revenue reached $7.7 million in Q1, up 12% year over year. Average order value increased 29% to $16.91, and the value per new registration improved 15% to $17.72. Metrics that speak to the improving unit economics of this business and our focus on high-value customer engagement At Classics for a Cause, our Australia-based subscription digital membership and trade promotion lottery platform, new users rose 18% year over year to 9,813. Total transactions grew 12% sequentially, and VIP subscriptions surpassed 10,000 for the first time in 12 months, ending Q1 at 10,750. The return of VIP subscriptions above this threshold is a strong indicator of customer loyalty and future revenue momentum.

Rich ChristensenFinally, GMAG, our B2B gaming aggregation segment, which includes MexPlay, contributed $3.1 million in revenue in the quarter, representing approximately 6% of total company revenue. While the segment's revenue declined 18% from $3.8 million in Q1 2025, we are investing in our MexPlay business which grew 28% over last year. MexPlay, our Mexico-facing regulated online casino, continued its impressive growth strategy. Registrations reached 74,000, up 271% year over year, and first-time depositors climbed to 6,101, up nearly 200% over last year. These registration and conversion metrics reflect strong early market penetration and a compelling value proposition in the Mexican iGaming market. This revenue mix shift from the competitive B2B aggregation business to MexPlay revenue improves gross margin by over 5 percentage points over last year as well.

Rich ChristensenTurning to our outlook for the second quarter of 2026, we are issuing revenue guidance of $51 to $53 million, representing approximately 18% to 23% growth over Q2 of 2025's revenue of $43.2 million. This outlook reflects continuing growth in core MeridianBet operations, seasonal uplift in retail and online wagering activity, our general confidence in underlying business fundamentals and our ability to execute against our operational priorities. We remain committed to transparent, consistent guidance, and we're pleased to enter Q2 with strong business momentum and financial flexibility to pursue the growth opportunities ahead of us. With that, I'll turn the call over to Zoran to discuss MeridianBet's operational performance. Zoran.

Zoran MilosevicThank you, Rich. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to report that MeridianBet delivered another strong quarter with revenue reaching $34.9 million, up approximately 26% year-over-year. This performance reflects continued execution across our 25 regulated markets and the ongoing scaling of our strategic growth initiatives. User acquisition and engagement. Our customer metrics tell a compelling story of sustained quality-driven growth. Total registration reached 428,400 registrations in Q1 2026, up 41% year over year. This is not simply growth in absolute numbers. It reflects the effectiveness of our localized acquisition strategies and the resonance of our brand across diverse markets.

Zoran MilosevicActive users increased 21% year over year to 333,700, and depositors grew 27% to 283,000. The progression from registration to active use to depositing is a critical measure of platform engagement quality, and these metrics demonstrate that we are not only acquiring customers at an accelerating pace, we are converting and retaining them. The gap between registration growth and active depositor growth reflects healthy customer maturation patterns and suggests continued revenue upside as our newer cohorts develop. In Brazil, our operations continue to scale following the successful launch in 2025. Brazil is one of the world's largest single-country sports betting markets by population opportunity, and we are pleased with the pace of early market penetration. Our team has built strong local partnerships, invested in locally relevant content and user experience, and positioned MeridianBet as a credible, compliant operator in this high-potential jurisdiction.

Zoran MilosevicThe regulatory framework in Brazil continues to develop favorably, and our early position backed by our 25 years of regulated market experience across the Europe and Africa provides meaningful competitive advantages as the market matures and competition intensifies. We will continue to invest in Brazil with discipline, targeting sustainable market share growth rather than short-term promotional volume.

Zoran MilosevicExpanse Studios, our B2B gaming content subsidiary operating within MeridianBet Group, delivered another strong quarter of operational progress. Our operating network expanded to 1,519 active distribution sites during Q1 2026, adding 175 new sites on cumulative basis in the quarter alone. Our proprietary game portfolio now encompasses 77 titles, including 6 new games launched during Q1. The strategic importance of Expanse Studios to our overall business cannot be overstated. The content business generates recurring B2B revenue with attractive margins and strong operating leverage. Each new game title we launch is distributed across our entire 1,519-site operator network with minimal incremental cost. And as our network grows, so does the revenue potential of every title in our library.

Zoran MilosevicOn technology front, we continue to make meaningful investments in AI-powered capabilities across our platform. These investments are enhancing personalization at the individual player level, improving risk management and pricing accuracy in our sportsbook operations, and driving operational efficiencies across our markets, from customer service automation to trading floor optimization. We view technology investments not as a cost center but as the core driver of our long-term competitive differentiation. In a market where scale and platform quality determine winner-takes-most outcomes, our proprietary technology stack built in-house over 25 years of regulated market operations is a durable advantage that third-party and white-label competitors cannot easily replicate.

Zoran MilosevicLooking ahead, our strategic priorities remain consistent and clear: scale Brazil with discipline, deepen our presence and share of wallet in existing markets, continue expanding our Expanse Studios content distribution network and maintain the operational discipline that has driven our results. The strategic investments we have made over the past several years in technology, market licenses, and talent are now translating into accelerating growth and expanding margins. We are well positioned to continue this trajectory through 2026 and beyond. With that, I'll turn the call back to William for his closing remarks.

William ScottThank you, Zoran. Before we open the line for Q&A, I want to leave you with a few direct thoughts on where we stand and where we are going. Q1 was a quarter of continued execution, and the results speak for themselves. 17% Revenue growth, first profitable quarter under Meridian Holdings brand, 26% adjusted EBITDA growth with margin expansion ahead of our guidance. Strong balance sheet, and declining leverage. I'm genuinely proud of what this team has built and even more excited about what comes next. Our focus in 2026 is 4 things: delivering on guidance, maintaining operational discipline across our markets, continuing the balance sheet trajectory we established last year, and communicating clearly and consistently with our shareholders every quarter. We remain committed— to disciplined capital allocation, focusing on high-return growth investments in technology, content, and strategic market expansion.

William ScottThis includes supporting our continued scaling in Brazil, deepening our footprint across Europe and other regulated markets, expanding the Expanse Studios content network, and pursuing strategic acquisitions and alternatives where they meaningfully enhance our market position and create durable shareholder value. A fortified balance sheet combined with our highly scalable and proprietary technology platform gives us financial flexibility and an operational foundation to take prudent, decisive action when the right opportunities arise. We do not feel pressure to deploy capital recklessly. We feel confident to deploy it thoughtfully. To every shareholder, analyst, and partner on this call, Thank you for your continued support and trust. We are committed to earning it. With that, we will now open the call for questions. Operator.

OperatorThank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. If you have a question, please press star 1 on your telephone keypad. If you wish to remove yourself from the queue, press star 2. Please limit yourself to 1 question and 1 follow-up. We will pause for a moment to allow questions to queue.

OperatorWe'll take our first question from Jack Vander Aarde with Maxim Group. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Jack Vander AardeOkay, great. Good morning, guys. Great update. Great profitable results. Thanks for taking my questions. You know, maybe I'll start with— to limit myself. Which is hard to do because there's a lot to talk about. Will, maybe can you just touch on some of the key upcoming catalysts? Obviously, there's strong Q2 guidance here with a growth assumption. Maybe if you just touch on some of the key upcoming catalysts since this is kind of a unique summer with the World Cup. And then obviously, you have Brazil ramping up as well and Expanse Studios continues to expand. Maybe touch on a handful, but the top 2 catalysts you see coming up here that could provide upside to the business going forward?

William ScottThanks.

William ScottThank you for the question, Jack. I hope this is working, but my phone seems to be linking in and out on mute all the time, which I haven't a clue why. But let me answer your question. I think the World Cup is going to be an interesting time for us because it is a big World Cup. It's got sixty players in it this time— or sorry, countries in it. So it's going to be play. But what we find is the World Cup, you really don't know what's going to happen with it, but it's a great acquisition engine to help us drive the business. So that's really one of the big catalysts that you're going to have. The other thing is really what we're focusing on is on execution in all of the markets. So it's really about delivery and also strategic acquisitions as we go through. And it's got to be ones where we can have operational leverage because we really want to deploy our capital with care.

Jack Vander AardeOkay, great. And yes, you are cutting in and out there, but I got most of that.

William ScottGo ahead, Jack.

Jack Vander AardeHey, Zoran. Yeah, no problem, guys. Hey, Zoran, maybe it'd be helpful to just touching on the Expanse Studio front with the pending approvals or review processes in New Jersey. And Ontario. Can you maybe just provide an update there? What's the sense of timing and just how important or significant these approvals are?

Zoran MilosevicJack, thank you for your question. And if I may, just to answer your prior question related to the potential growth in Q2, as you know, second part of June we will have a World Cup, the beginning of World Cup. And basically, World Cup is always big if you have your national team playing. And from our portfolio of countries where we operate, 4 of our countries actually have their national teams. That's Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, and Bosnia. And basically in these countries we expect maximum growth, especially with Brazil. So that's the most significant, by far the most significant event when it comes to marketing. And we are preparing special marketing promotions in the countries which have their own national team playing.

Zoran MilosevicAnd when it comes to possible profits, World Cup is always tricky because we have emotional betting patterns involved all the time, especially where in the countries, as I said, where national teams are playing, it's like all emotional rollercoaster. So we did several simulations, and when it comes to World Cup, we would say it's from neutral to mild positive when it comes to profit at the end. But as I said, on marketing level, that's like by far the biggest event we can get because most of the attention of the local public is driven to that event, which we must, must use. When it comes to Expanse, whatever you mentioned is basically days away. We are just waiting for approvals, and I really cannot give any predictions when it can be. And dealing with regulatory, as you know, it's, it's, you always hope for days, but it's never days. But actually we did everything what is on our side.

Zoran MilosevicWe did everything what is on our side. So we're just waiting, but we have never been closer to that, both relative to New Jersey and Ontario. And it's really big news for us. I cannot tell much, but basically So let's say 100% of our efforts are made in these two directions.

William ScottExcellent.

Jack Vander AardeWell, congrats again on the momentum, guys. I'll hop back in the queue and look forward to watching you execute. Thank you.

Rich ChristensenThanks, Jack.

OperatorThank you. We will move next with Marla Marin with Zacks. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Marla MarinThank you. So in the prepared remarks and the scripted commentary, you talked a little bit about the relationship between registrations being up and then active users also being up. Do you have a sense based on, you know, operating history and things that you're able to glean from any marketing that you do, do you have a sense of how long in advance of a potential catalyst, and I'm thinking specifically of the soccer, of the World Cup soccer games. Do you have a sense for how far in advance people who are new to the platform actually would consider registering, or there's really no way to get a good feel for that?

Rich ChristensenZoran, do you want to take that?

William ScottZoran.

Zoran MilosevicYes, yes, this is really good question. When it comes to— this is like my 5th World Cup in Meridian, so it's very different. Do you have your national team playing or not? So in the countries where your national team is not playing, this is like— this is not big attraction. It is, but it keeps you, you can actually have, get good revenues during summertime, during July and August because usually major soccer leagues don't play during this period. So if you have World Cup but your national team is not playing, that means you can have like good results in June, July, and August, but nothing special. It is just like season as it used to be. But if your national team is playing, it can go multiple a lot. Multiple 4, 5, 6 comparing to all previous periods. Because I said this is all driven by emotional betting and all the companies which operate in the countries where national teams are playing are like all in when it comes to marketing.

Zoran MilosevicSo basically this is like— and as I said, we have Brazil, we have Mexico, huge countries. And we expect a lot. So it can be easily multiple 5, even multiple 6 when you have national teams playing. What is also something new which we have is that the process from registration to get an active player also depends from regulatory neutralization. We call it now because basically in the past you didn't have this segment. It was from registration, all activities will be related how to get first deposit, how to convert this customer into, to make a first deposit, and everything was related to your basically user experience. But these days, unfortunately, but this is the situation last several years. Due to inflation of regulatory, especially in KYC, AML, and customer protection. Actually, there is increased delay from registration to have an active customer only because of these processes. And we call them all onboarding processes, which really depends from regulatory to regulatory.

Zoran MilosevicSo in some countries, Brazil, definitely this process will be harder because Brazil is by far most regulated country in the world when it comes to KYC, AML, and regulatory— and sorry, customer protection. Or for example, on the other end, let's say all other countries have lighter regulations. So we are focusing our attention into this onboarding process of how to make it seamless for the customer. So we have this period from registration until having him as an active user to try to be as smooth as possible. And this is, this is like by far most complicated process, which I said it didn't exist 5, 6 years ago. And now we are focusing like 90% of the time between these two.

Marla MarinWell, okay, good. That's good color. So let me just make sure, you know, that I'm understanding. So there's the onboarding process, but I'm also thinking, you know, my sense is that active users are not active consistently all the time, or not necessarily active, you know, for the same length of time. And I think one thing you have talked about in the past is the power of the, you know, AI capabilities of the platform in terms of increasing the long-term value of customers. So if you have customers, or, you know, let's talk on a, you know, one customer example. If you have a customer that was active and no longer is, you're not, you're not looking at the same kind of trajectory there to try to turn that customer back on, right? Because that customer has already gone through that onboarding process that you just spoke about.

Zoran MilosevicYeah, so thank you for clarification. Basically what I was talking previously was about acquisition process, so it means how to acquire new customer and turn him into, into active user, and that has significant onboarding process because of all regulatory requirements related to KYC, AML, and customer protection. And that relates for acquisition. But with your clarification, what you ask now is related to retention. So what do we do with all— with customers that are already in our database, that already made their first deposit? We have special marketing activities. We call them retention processes, which we drive through our CRMs. We We basically use several CRMs into our marketing process and decide which is the best one for each market. So there are really comprehensive retention activities behind the scenes happening, and we foresee also that our database will be reactivated, especially in the countries where we have national teams playing, up to 40-50% more than we can have them if we didn't have World Cup.

Zoran MilosevicSo retention processes are like in that sense also subject of the marketing activities which will happen during the World Cup. So we have acquisition strategies, that means how to acquire new customers. So we think it's like it can be multiple 5, multiple 6 comparing to the periods previously. And when it comes to retention, so our existing customers which we registered before World Cup, we can reactivate the database 40 to 50% more than if we didn't have World Cup.

Marla MarinOkay, thank you. Now, last question from me. You know, you touched on that Brazil is a very strict regulatory environment, and my understanding is that that also extends to the number of licenses that have been awarded Do you see that continuing, and do you see that as a positive in terms of, you know, creating competitive barriers to entering the market for a while?

Zoran MilosevicThis is an excellent question. And so Brazil, as you know, this is like by far the most regulated market in the world in terms of population, and especially having in mind that there is only one there is a federal license in place as well. So you can get state license in Brazil as well, but you can get the federal. And the federal license so far was awarded to approximately 50 companies, which each company can have 3 domains. So basically like 150 domains are operating in Brazil on 50 licenses, and more or less, I'm not like 100% accurate, but this is approximate situation. And we don't see in 2026 more licenses being awarded. So all this first enthusiasm of getting into this market is stopped now. So Brazil needs to be seen only from strategic perspective, nothing else. So this is something what we need to see that we will operate next 20+ years. It's huge gigantic market.

Zoran MilosevicAlso, in parallel, since it's heavily regulated, that means that short-term scaling will be impacted, and that happened in 2025. So everyone thought, every single operator thought that once you get a license in January— as you know, Meridian was one of the first companies who got a license— then immediately in February we can just go and conquer the market and invest a lot in marketing, but that didn't happen. It didn't happen for us, didn't happen for, for anyone else. Only because we had additional regulatory requirements. I think I counted like 13 additional requests which came after the license was awarded, all related to KYC verification process, customer protection, and so on, which we all find sensible. So there was not a single barrier that would prevent us of like penetrating further in the market, but can we do it fast? No, especially not in 2025. So we see this like a little bit slowing down, so we can, especially because of the World Cup and Brazil's participation, and Brazil expects a lot from this World Cup, we see that these things are a little bit slowing down in regulatory sense, so we can dedicate our resources and timing to Brazil.

Zoran MilosevicAnd we had also been lucky that we didn't overspend in Brazil in pre-licensing period because companies started to advertise in Brazil even 6, 7 years before license was awarded. So we think if we continue with discipline and if trends go this way, that's We will be a long-term winner, but we just need to be very careful and have disciplined approach to this market. So the game changed, so all companies have one set of plans which changed along the way, so we need to adopt, but to be careful not to overspend in the beginning. So that is where the situation is harsh there. But as I said, we are extremely positive about it because it's 22 million people obsessed with soccer, and that's really a good place to be. But nothing will come, especially not profits will not come over the night. So that's not happening. Not for us, not for anyone.

Marla MarinUnderstood. Thank you.

OperatorThank you.

OperatorThank you. And once again, that is *1 if you would like to join the queue. We will move next with Steven Silver with Argus Research. Please go ahead. Your line is open.

Steven SilverThanks, operator, and thanks for taking my questions and congratulations on the quarter. So you've spoken extensively about MeridianBet, but you've also mentioned in the prepared remarks robust registration expansion, albeit off of a small base for MexPlay. I was hoping you could provide some insight as to your views of the size of Mexico's gaming market and maybe the long-term growth potential and the fit within the overall portfolio you see for the business.

William ScottSo I— maybe Zoran and I will kind of address that. I actually don't have the— I'll kind of address the market side. Mexico is— I don't have the kind of numbers on the size of the Mexican market, but it's a very robust market. And there's— yeah, there's— it's a regulated regime, which is where we like to play. And it is growing. So it is a very strong growth market. We're having very positive registrations, but Zoran, who knows this more than me, Zoran, do you want to come in here on Mexico as an overall country? As a brand, we've got an excellent brand there and having, because of that branding, real success at acquiring players.

William ScottZoran?

Zoran MilosevicYeah, basically, yes. So whatever I said for Brazil, more or less is the same situation. Market is like half of the size of Brazil, but still it's huge and we expect a lot. So we are doing a lot of preparations also for the World Cup and you can expect more. So far results, we are very happy. This is actually one of the most— one in top like 5 countries when it comes to new customer registration, number of free depositors and so on. So we are really, really positive about Mexico. Mexico as well.

Steven SilverGreat. Thank you. One more, if I may.

Zoran MilosevicBecause it's an old regulated market and it's not much in the media, but you're quite right that this is like of huge significance. Brazil is just more hot subject in the media, so media exploit Brazil because it's just new, nothing else. But you are completely right. Mexico is like great for us as well. So our business there is great. It can be better, but we are working tirelessly on that.

Steven SilverUnderstood.

Zoran MilosevicGreat.

Steven SilverAnd one more. So with the now stable balance sheet, positive operating cash flows, GAAP profitability, can you provide your current thinking just in terms of your needs and the plans just to balance capital deployment between, I guess, technology investments, market expansion, and even potentially down the road, the return of capital to shareholders?

William ScottSo, you know, I think that, you know, we're very careful. We have a very disciplined approach to our investment. So we focus on making sure wherever our investments are, we get a great return on that. Very careful with the funds. You know, we are looking over the, over the, kind of over the next couple of years with regards to shareholder returns and may announce something in the future with regards to that. Because traditionally from a Meridian perspective, it has been a, you know, when it was a private company, it declared dividends. And so we do feel that that is something which, you know, we believe that you should give a mix of growth in the share price, but obviously some returns from the, the, to the shareholders as well. From a perspective is we don't have the mix of where we're deploying. I think the, there's, we've had a lot of capital investment in the technology and continue to invest in it.

William ScottBut a lot of the big investment has been done. And then with regards to new markets and continued investment to this, we really look at what the returns we want to get. We're constantly looking at our acquisition costs and our lifetime values to make sure we're doing a very disciplined approach to that investment. And as we say, we look at regulated markets. Markets come and get regulated. We're in that. And we'll make a careful investment in it and not rush to throw money against the wall in the hope that we will make money. We make sure that whatever money we do invest, that it is going to get a good return.

Steven SilverGreat. Thanks for the color and best of luck in Q2 leading to the World Cup.

William ScottThank you. It's going to be exciting because it straddles both Q2 and Q3.

Steven SilverYep. Right.

OperatorThank you. And that concludes our Q&A session. I will now turn the call back to the Meridian team for any closing remarks.

William ScottThank you, everyone. Hopefully, you are excited as we were about our results. Thank you for your time and your questions. We look forward to updating on our progress as we go forward. All I can say is wishing you a very Great day. Thank you.

OperatorThank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. A replay of this call will be available on the Meridian Holdings investor relations website at www.meridian-holdings.com.

OperatorYou may now disconnect.

William ScottThank you.