Sports betting technology provider Kambi Sports Solutions posted double-digit revenue gains last year despite a late surge of punter-friendly results.
Figures released this week show Kambi’s revenue jumping 17% to €56m in 2016 while earnings gained 19% to €8.8m and after-tax profits rose 21% to €7.5m. The results were less impressive in Q4, in which revenue was basically flat at €14.3m while earnings were cut in half to €1.8m and profit slid nearly 59% to €1.2m.
Kambi CEO Kristian Nylén attributed Q4’s slide to December’s sporting calendar, which produced “many events with player-friendly outcomes” and a corresponding decline in Kambi licensees’ average margins. However, Nylén celebrated the fact that licensees collectively reported 19% increases in turnover during Q4, which Nylén noted came despite a comparison with strong Q4 2015 numbers.
Q4 was an active period for Kambi, including a dramatic expansion of its Latin American omni-channel deal with the PlayCity brand of Mexico’s Grupo Televisa. Spanish operator R Franco also launched its Kambi-powered Wanabet online product in November
In October, Kambi inked an omni-channel lottery partnership with Novomatic Lottery Solutions, a division of Austria’s Novomatic Group. This month, Kambi announced that it had deepened its Novomatic ties by inking a deal with the Austrian operator’s online casino subsidiary Greentube to provide a sports betting service in regulated European Union markets.
Greentube CEO Thomas Graf hailed the new partnership, saying the addition of a sports betting product would “open completely new customer segments for us.” Nylén said he was particularly pleased by Greentube’s abundance of local licenses, which offered the potential to turn the partnership into “an important pan-European sportsbook player.”
That said, Kambi’s increasing focus on regulated markets contributed to its Q4 profit slide, as gaming-related taxes nearly doubled to €500k during the quarter. Careful what you wish for.
