Sports betting technology provider Kambi Group closed out 2017 with record quarterly revenue, giving the company “strong momentum” into the new year.
Figures released last week showed Kambi Group (formerly Kambi Sports Solutions) generated revenue of €19m in the three months ending December 31, 2017, one-third higher than the same period one year earlier.
Operating profit nearly tripled to €5m as margins doubled to a borderline obscene 26% and after-tax profit more than tripled to €3.9m.
Kambi CEO Kristian Nylén credited the gains to “an extended run of favorable sporting results, which started in Q3 and continued into Q4 with even greater regularity.” These results were found across all major European football leagues but in particular in the English Premier League, which posted 10 scoreless draws in December alone.
For 2017 as a whole, Kambi’s revenue was up nearly 11% to €62.1m, but operating profit fell 12.5% to €7.7m and after-tax profit was down more than one-fifth to €5.9m thanks to below average margins in the first half of the year.
Q4 was a productive period for signing new clients and re-upping with old ones, the latter category including long-term contract extensions with LeoVegas, Paf and Napoleon Games.
Kambi inked a new major land-based and online client in November. Sun International operates over 25 hotels and casinos in Africa and Latin America and also operates the South Africa-facing Sunbet.co.za sports betting site, which is currently transitioning to its new Kambi product. Kambi’s retail product suite is also being integrated into Sun’s South African casinos.
The international expansion continued in January, as Kambi launched its online sportsbook for the 777.bg brand of Bulgaria’s National Lottery AD.
While Kambi has yet to establish a US footprint, the company is keenly aware that the US Supreme Court may overturn the longtime federal betting ban in the next month or two. Kambi said it recently conducted a “US product assessment to identify and close product gaps for the US audience” to ensure it is well-positioned to take advantage of a positive court ruling.
