The Nevada Gaming Commission signed off Thursday on the Kambi Group providing its B2B sports betting services to casinos in the state.
Kambi, headquartered in Malta with its stock trading in Sweden, will start with a field test at Bally’s Lake Tahoe in and hopes to parlay success there to other casino operators throughout the state.
Founded in 2010, Kambi acquired its first U.S. licenses in 2018 in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Kambi provides a software platform with front-end user interface, odds compiling, customer intelligence, and risk management. It operates in 15 states and one Canadian province, offering online, mobile, and retail services to 45 operators. It has more than 1,000 employees.
The company partners with tribes, Rush Street Interactive, Penn Entertainment, and Parx Casino and claims that the Kambi network is the biggest retail sportsbook in many U.S. states. It handles about 500,000 sporting events a year.
“Retail sports betting is probably more important in Nevada than anywhere else and we have built up a very successful business the past five years,” said Erik Logdberg, Kambi sportsbook manager. “It would be a good quality stamp for Kambi to get a Nevada license to show we hold ourselves to the highest corporate standards.”
Kris Saw, Kambi’s chief technology officer, said they’re submitting their retail solution to the Gaming Control Board’s technology division and are currently in testing with GLI. They hope to complete that by the first half of the year, then move on to a field trial with Bally’s, possibly by July. Kambi works with Bally’s in other states.
Saw said Kambi provides the software to do risk management and calculate probabilities. Casinos manage the risk, liabilities, and cash and make decisions about the day-to-day operations of retail and online sportsbooks.
The Kambi system is agnostic; it doesn’t have player and account information or see transactions. Bally’s has their own system for that. When a wager is placed, it’s assessed by Kambi, which recommends whether Bally’s should accept the bet.
“Kambi can offer online and mobile services, but don’t currently have a player-account management system, so we work with our partners,” Saw said. “In the event we go online, our partners will provide the player-account system for us to integrate with and that will be resubmitted to the tech division for further evaluation.”
Anders Strom, Kambi’s board chairman and co-founder, apologized to the Commission for the length of time the process has taken. He said they weren’t prepared for the application process initially and have since rectified that problem.
“We now have a good team in place and good advice and processes, and especially good counsel with (McDonald Carano Wilson),” Strom said.
Commission member Brian Krolicki said after listening to two hours from Kambi executives at the Gaming Control Board, he found their team impressive. He called the delay unfortunate and that maybe that shows that Nevada has a higher and more time-consuming standard.
“I’m a neighbor of Bally’s Lake Tahoe and anything that happens there is important to me,” Krolicki said. “I know folks who work there are very excited and can see this value added.”
In response to a question from Krolicki, Kenyon said the company’s focus is on developing the business in Nevada and the rest of the U.S., with no plans to co-list its stock in this country.
Commission members thanked Kambi executives for making the trip back to the U.S. for a second hearing in two weeks rather than doing so over Zoom.