Kambi keen on Latin American expansion
Chief executive Kristian Nylen describes region as "very interesting" with Mexico likely to be first point of entry
Kambi Sports Solutions is looking to expand its B2B sportsbook to the Latin American market as part of the supplier’s plan to increase its share of the global sports betting sector.
Speaking to eGaming Review after this week announcing a 70% increase in 2014 revenues, Kambi chief executive Kristian Nylen (pictured) placed Latin America alongside Europe and the lotteries as the supplier’s three key strategic areas for growth.
“[Latin America is] a very interesting market and underdeveloped when compared to Europe,” Nylen said, whose company provides fully managed sportsbooks for the likes of 888, 32Red and Unibet.
“There are things happening on the regulatory side in Latin America and Mexico is looking very interesting and, when it comes to product, what they would ask for is not very different to what we have at the moment,” he added.
According to Nylen, Kambi currently holds less than 1% of the global sports betting market and insisted the company was “well positioned” should consolidation in the B2C sector impact on any of its customers – 888 this week revealed it had received a takeover approach from William Hill.
“It is very important to remember that our current share of the sports betting market is less than 1% so there are a lot of opportunities still in the market,” Nylen said.
“When we started Kambi we felt that two things had to happen; one was consolidation and the other was that there was an absolute need for more premium quality, cost efficient sports betting solutions.
“That’s the nature of the business but I think we are well positioned to help customers to who are not the largest in the market with our fantastic sports betting solution,” he added.
In Europe, Nylen said the operator was hopeful of securing a new customer with existing sportsbook operations either in need of an upgrade, a product which could be outsourced at a lower cost, or both.
He believed the sportsbook growth enjoyed by 888 and Unibet, as well as the recent extension of its contract with Napoleon Games, was evidence of the quality of its offer.
“Obviously one of the compelling factors for operators to look at other possibilities is cost pressure on their own business and the technical problems of new regulations but I hope the biggest reason to look at Kambi is what we’ve achieved with Unibet and 888 and how they are growing faster than the wider market,” Nylen said.
The chief exec also said the company had recently implemented a new real-time customer analytics service, enabling operators to pick up on potentially costly customers – court siders, arbitragers, etc. – within a very short timeframe.