Kambi CEO frustrated by PNG’s decision to migrate to theScore tech
Kristian Nylén confident of driving post-DraftKings revenue growth at the Stockholm-listed sportsbook supplier
Kambi CEO Kristian Nylén believes the market is underestimating what it takes to build sportsbook technology following Penn National Gaming’s (PNG) decision to transition on to in-house tech which is yet to be developed by theScore business it acquired in August.
PNG secured final regulatory approval on a $2bn deal to acquire the Canadian sports media giant earlier this month, with plans for the company to build proprietary sportsbook and trading technology on which PNG would eventually run its services.
However, with the technology still in development, there is no certainty as to when theScore’s sportsbook platform will be ready to launch.
Speaking to EGR, Nylén said: “It is one thing to see operators moving to technology that is there and is proven, but to announce they are moving away to something that is not built is something that is frustrating.
Nylén said there was a tendency in the market to underestimate the complexity of first-class sports betting tech, particularly in view of PNG’s timeline. “Let’s see what happens going forward if this is feasible to do in a couple of years’ time,” he added.
Boston-based DraftKings, which was formerly powered by Kambi, also recently completed its transition onto its acquired in-house SBTech platform.
Detailed in Kambi’s Q3 report, DraftKings accounted for approximately 30% of Kambi’s total revenue for the reporting period.
However, when comparing Q3 2020 to Q3 2021 without the contribution from DraftKings, operator turnover still climbed 10% year-on-year.
The provider also launched in its 15th US state in September, powering Churchill Downs, PNG and Kindred Group’s Unibet offering in Arizona. Kambi also went live with several partners outside of the US in recent months including the Belgian National Lottery and Racing and Wagering Western Australia.
Nylén said he felt the supplier was in a strong position, with the Q3 financial figures proof of that.
He continued: “We are coming into a quarter where the comparable turnover is much easier to manage.
“As I said before, the turnover in Q3 last year had a lot of additional [sports], especially NBA and soccer in July and August that we didn’t have this year,” he added.