Kambi growth plans give firm strategic dilemma
CEO Kristian Nylen hesitant to offer price-feed product despite numerous operator requests as it looks beyond egaming for growth
Kambi Sports Solutions chief executive Kristian Nylen (pictured) says he is unsure whether unpacking its fully-managed sportsbook would be the right strategic move for the supplier as it looks to expand beyond egaming.
Nylen listed the lotteries market and the media industry “ it already has a deal with Spanish broadcaster Mediaset – as being two areas of particular interest, while it is also focused on extending its mobile HTML5 client to web and expanding its nascent over-the-counter service.
But equally there remain opportunities from the core gambling sector, and speaking with eGaming Review following the release of the company’s first set of results since its separation from Unibet in May, Nylen said a number of operators had enquired about receiving a price feed service only.
At present, the supplier only offers a complete sportsbook package consisting of a platform, pricing and risk management, with current customers including Unibet, 888 and 32Red.
And although he did not categorically rule out breaking the service down in order to offer its elements separately, Nylen made clear he felt the sum of the product was greater than its parts.
“Technically, I believe we could go in that direction “ it would take some development but it is certainly a possibility,” Nylen told eGR.
“Strategically, I’m not sure we’d want to take that route; we still believe the big value is that you actually have everything combined here and you have the odds and the risk management together.
“When you get a bet from a wise customer, if you do both you can react to it, they are interlinked so I don’t really believe in just selling odds – although I’d never say never,” he added.
Nylen attributed the supplier’s 97% jump in Q2 revenues to both the addition of new clients 32Red and IveriaBet, plus its established partners “outperforming the market” “ Unibet last week posted 38% growth in Q2 EBITDA.
One of the main reasons Kambi gave for the Unibet separation at the time was the expectation it would be able to gain more traction with potential clients when acting as an independent company.
And the CEO said he hoped to be in the position to announce further client wins in H2, although added the process involved was often protracted, as illustrated by its deal with 32Red, which went live in June.
“We were probably talking to them [32Red] for around two years,” Nylen said. “Of course some processes are quicker, and we are very confident with our pipeline at the moment, whether anything will materialise in Q3 I can’t be sure.
“I don’t think the fact we spun-off two months ago would have had an effect directly, but we now have a better chance in the processes [to win new customers] than we had before,” he added.