The company has been showing significant progress in markets such as the United States and Canada. What has been the situation in H1 2022 in LatAm, where you have strong relationship with operators such as BetPlay, Rushbet (Rush Street Interactive), Olimpo.bet, BetWarrior and Casino Magic, among others?
The Americas region, including Latin America, continues to hold great promise for Kambi and we have only gone from strength to strength in the region during 2022. In Q1 2022, for example, the Americas accounted for 55% of Kambi’s operator GGR compared to 43% from Europe, which had historically been Kambi’s core market. Latin America is a key part of this success story and we were recently delighted to launch in Mexico with our partner Rush Street Interactive, adding to a growing list of LatAm markets where Kambi is live that includes Colombia and Argentina. With a range of leading partners in the region, including RushBet, BetPlay, BetWarrior and Casino Magic, we know what it takes to deliver sportsbook technology which can empower operators to out-compete their commercial rivals.
What was the Kambi’s Festival of Sportsbook held in May about and what results could you highlight from this digital meeting with industry leaders?
Kambi’s Festival of Sportsbook was a week-long sports betting content series that aimed to educate, inform and discuss the industry’s most pressing topics, including Esports, the World Cup, sports betting integrity and bet builders. After making its debut last year, the Festival returned in 2022 with an extensive series of public and partner-only sessions informing on a wide breadth of sports betting industry topics and featuring the expertise of both the team at Kambi and a number of external speakers. The Festival was a great success and outperformed our expectations in many ways, which just shows the value people from across the industry place on Kambi’s experience and expertise.
Returning to LatAm, the sports betting and iGaming markets continue to advance, with regulations under discussion in countries such as Brazil, Peru and Chile, and expansion proposals in Uruguay and Paraguay. How do you envision this context on the eve of a sporting event as relevant as the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 at the end of the year?
This is an exciting time for the Latin American market as there are a number of positive signs in countries across the region. Having legislated regulation a number of years ago, Colombia has set the benchmark for the opportunities that effectively enacted regulatory frameworks can have in the region. One of the markets which we are monitoring most closely is Brazil which, when operational, would be among the top five largest regulated markets in the world. We are keeping a watchful eye on Brazil and other markets too, but it is difficult to predict how much progress will be made before the World Cup which is, of course, one of the biggest betting events for Kambi. As the first World Cup to take place in November and December, there can be no question that this will be a unique tournament with the potential to significantly impact the betting landscape, and we are enthused at the possibilities the tournament presents. The World Cup is a truly global event, and, supporting more than 40 partners on six continents, Kambi will have a best-in-class offering available to help those partners capitalize on those opportunities.
The company provides its more than 40 partners with a market-leading offering, including HQ solutions and enough flexibility to help operators make the difference with their competitors. From your point of view, what are the keys to the company’s success, both in LatAm and in the rest of the world?
Kambi is a cutting-edge technology company delivering an unrivalled sportsbook and service which enable operators in LatAm and the rest of the world to engage and excite players to build market-leading positions. Many of the senior leaders at Kambi have been in this industry for more than 20 years, and since Kambi was founded more than a decade ago, we have focused exclusively on the sports betting vertical, developing a core product that is near impossible to replicate. We believe it is the quality of product that will ultimately be the key factor for achieving success in Latin America and one of the major long-term trends in sports betting has been in-event combinations, also known as bet builders. A high-quality bet builder product has become a must-have in LatAm. Kambi’s award-winning product has obtained plaudits for the level of combinability it offers, enabling players to make combination bets across multiple games, leagues and sports. Kambi is also currently in the process of increasing the level of combinability for soccer with the inclusion of more and better-quality player props and stats bets. Furthermore, a strong live betting product is crucial. With this in mind, Kambi has heavily invested in its live betting product with an extensive offering for key sports such as soccer, basketball and tennis, enabled by the integration of official data partners, strong and accurate feeds, quality trading tools and confidence in pricing.
Kambi will be Gold Sponsor of the G&M News Mercosur Summit event, which will bring together the main LatAm operators at City Center Iguazu on August 31st and September 1st. How valuable is it for your company to participate in this gathering that will combine academic content, exchange of information and experiences, and networking possibilities?
Industry events such as the G&M News Mercosur Summit are a great way for Kambi to meet current and prospective partners, as well as people from right across the sports betting ecosystem. With so much disruption to the event space over the last couple of years, the importance of face-to-face networking events like the G&M News Mercosur Summit cannot be overstated. It is also a great opportunity for attendees to educate themselves on some of the biggest industry trends through valuable content sessions with fantastic speakers, and we can’t wait to attend and exchange ideas as to how we move this industry forward together.
In a recent corporate report, Kambi referred to its four key strategic pillars that provide the basis for the company’s future development: 1) Technically advanced core platform to enable growth; 2) Differentiation and empowerment; 3) Power of the network, and 4) Highly scalable business model. In this sense, how will the company be able to continue providing first-class sports betting experiences and capitalizing on the many exciting opportunities that lay ahead?
Kambi first presented its key strategic pillars at the company’s Capital Markets Day last year. We believe these pillars, which focus on technology, differentiation, power of the network and scalability, are the basis of our future success and key to delivering significant value for our stakeholders moving forward. Each quarter, we provide the market with updates on how those pillars on which notable progress has been made. The pillars drive excellence across the sportsbook and have been integral to creating a robust and increasingly diverse business. In short, they are integral to helping Kambi strengthen its position as the world’s leading sportsbook and continue to provide exciting sports betting experiences for players in Latin America and across the world.