Kambi Group’s AI-driven trading system used during the World Cup amid a strong second quarter has the sports betting technology provider feeling like it has “turned the corner” as a business.
Key Takeaways
- Kambi reported an 18% trading margin on over 100 million bets during the World Cup.
- Q2 revenue was up 13.5% compared to the same quarter in 2025.
- Kambi’s AI trading system will expand to other sports as well.
Kambi reported an 18% trading margin while processing over 100 million bets globally during the expanded 104-match World Cup, generating more than €1 billion in turnover. More than 70 matches occurred during Kambi’s Q2, which produced a 13.5% year-over-year revenue increase to €45.9 million (US$52.4 million).
Kambi CEO Werner Becher said during Wednesday's quarterly earnings call that the gaming company “returned to growth” and is focused on sustaining positive momentum that it built during “a fantastic business period.”
“The 2026 FIFA World Cup was without doubt the biggest event in the sports betting industry,” Becher said. “As such, we had a great product to match. Our AI trading system enables us and our partners to offer a near-limitless offering with an expansion in player props and combinability giving sport fans incredible choice.
“To illustrate this point, in the World Cup final, in only this one game, we saw more than 1 million unique combinations that were placed,” Becher said. “A number almost inconceivable a few years ago and certainly impossible to deliver through manual trading. Our AI trading system priced and traded all 104 games pretty much live, delivering a product of high quality without the need to increase the number of human traders as we noted other companies had.”
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Proving technology
Kambi reported strong engagement throughout Canada, a World Cup host country, and Europe, but Latin America accounted for 46% of the quadrennial event’s turnover.
Kambi’s AI technology helped its partners increase business through live Bet Builders, which allows customers to create a customized wager involving multiple markets on the same match. This product accounted for 22% of all live bets through Kambi’s technology, a significant increase from the 3% during the 2022 World Cup.
“Given the context of our 14% Q2 margin, along with a steady increase in margin over the past few quarters, we have shown that by offering an engaging sportsbook, high-quality trading and risk management, we can deliver improved results,” Becher said. “This places even greater emphasis on the difference between an average sportsbook and a truly leading one, and we have the latter.”
Not only did this technology prove Kambi could handle large amounts of real-time betting through automated market pricing, but it also gives the company a blueprint for other sports heading into the busiest of all betting seasons.
“Looking ahead, we are about to go in for testing also now with American football with the start of the NFL season in September, while we also start to work to transition more sports, table tennis, volleyball, esports, to give you some examples being on our roadmap here,” Becher said. “This will mean we will soon have more than 90% of our turnover channels through our proprietary AI system, in turn delivering a leading quality product for all the key sports to our partners.”
Successful Q2
Kambi doubled its Adjusted EBITDA, reaching €7.6 million ($8.7 million) and producing a 16.5% margin. Operating profit increased 262% to €5.8 million ($6.6 million). Operating expenses dipped 0.6%.
Kambi’s full-year Adjusted EBITDA guidance increased to between €23 million and €27 million ($26.2 million and $30.8 million). Kambi anticipates a slight short-term impact as margins normalize over much of Q3 and before the busy Q4, including the NFL season, begins.
“While there is still work to do, Q2 built on the solid momentum established in Q1,” Becher said. “Our focus is now on sustaining this positive momentum through the second half of the year and beyond.”
Business highlights
The gaming company signed a deal with Atlantic Lottery and British Columbia Lottery during the second quarter, expanding its reach to nine Canadian provinces. Kambi also launched lotteries in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean through a deal signed in May with gaming solutions provider Canadian Bank Note.
Kambi recently partnered with Pure Casino to provide Turnkey solutions in Alberta, which launched regulated gaming July 13. The operator plans to launch the Kambi-powered online sportsbook within the coming weeks.
Deals were also reached with tribal operator Desert Diamond in Arizona, and BetWarrior in Argentina. Kambi also reached a deal to provide its Odds Feed+ service to RETABET in Spain and Peru.
