The betting world got some interesting news recently when Kambi and PENN Entertainment decided they weren’t quite ready to part ways. Instead of letting their retail sportsbook agreement expire at the end of 2025, the two companies have signed on for another year and a half, pushing the deadline to July 31, 2027. This gives PENN more breathing room as they work on building their own technology, and it keeps Kambi in the game at 30 different PENN properties spread across 13 states.
Werner Becher, who serves as Kambi’s CEO, sounded pretty pleased about the whole arrangement. He mentioned that this extension really cements their reputation as a go-to sportsbook provider for major operators, giving PENN the flexibility they need while continuing to deliver solid retail experiences for customers across the United States.
Breaking Down the Deal
The original contract was set to run out on December 31, 2025, but these things are rarely simple in the gaming industry. PENN has been working on developing proprietary technology to eventually replace third-party providers, which takes time. Lots of it. The migration process is complex, expensive, and risky if you rush it, so having Kambi stick around until mid-2027 gives PENN a comfortable cushion.
Right now, Kambi powers retail sportsbooks at 30 PENN locations, and those properties generate some pretty healthy margins in the mid-30s percent range. That’s significant revenue PENN doesn’t want to disrupt while they’re building their own systems. The extension covers all on-property sportsbooks that will be active by the end of 2025, ensuring continuity for both companies.
What Kambi Actually Provides
If you’re not deep in the gaming tech world, you might wonder what exactly Kambi brings to these 30 properties. It’s way more than just software that sits on a computer somewhere. Kambi’s retail offering is a full package that includes advanced trading capabilities, modern betting kiosks, Bring Your Own Device technology, and seamless over-the-counter wagering solutions.
Their Turnkey Sportsbook is the flagship product, basically an end-to-end solution that lets operators launch or upgrade their sportsbook operations without building everything from scratch. This includes a front-end user interface, odds compiling, customer intelligence, and risk management, all built on Kambi’s proprietary platform.
The company has been expanding its product lineup significantly. Their Odds Feed+ service delivers high-quality pre-match and live odds, micro markets, and player props through a single API integration. It’s fully customizable and scalable, which means operators can build bespoke odds packages to enhance their margins. Kambi’s Bet Builder has won industry awards and lets players create unique bets across single and multiple games, which drives higher engagement and operator margins. They’ve also built out a complete esports betting solution powered by Abios, covering major titles like CS2, League of Legends, Dota 2, and VALORANT.
Kambi’s Front End technology, powered by Shape Games, delivers customizable sportsbook interfaces across web, mobile, and retail channels. It’s available either as a managed service or as an SDK, which reduces development overhead while maximizing performance. The company also offers Managed Trading services that include pre-match and live odds, event resulting, bet settlement, compliance, and risk management.
Following the Money: Kambi’s Financial Picture
Kambi recently shared their third quarter 2025 financial results, and they reflect some of the challenges facing the industry. Revenue came in at €37.4 million, which represents a 13.1% decline from the €43.0 million they reported in Q3 2024. When you exclude transition fees, the drop is about 8.1% year-over-year. For the first nine months of 2025, revenue stood at €119.3 million compared to €132.0 million during the same period in 2024.
The company attributed part of this decline to a quieter sporting calendar. Last year’s third quarter had the Euros, Copa América, and the Olympics, which drove significant betting activity. This year didn’t have those same major events, creating a tough comparison. Additionally, increased gaming-related taxes in various markets have put pressure on the bottom line.
Operating profit dropped to €1.6 million in Q3 2025, down from €3.6 million in Q3 2024. Adjusted EBITA fell to €3.4 million from €4.9 million in the same quarter last year. The company’s cash balance stood at €45.4 million at the end of the quarter, and they’ve been actively buying back shares, with €8.1 million in repurchases during Q3 as part of a larger program.
Looking at the full year 2025, Kambi has adjusted their outlook to around €17 million in earnings, citing foreign exchange pressures, slower than expected performance in Brazil, and revised timing for partner launches. The cost efficiency program they’ve implemented continues to show benefits and will extend into Q4 2025 and 2026.
PENN’s Position: Why They Need Kambi a Bit Longer
PENN Entertainment has been going through its own transformation. The company reported fourth quarter 2024 revenue of $1.67 billion, up from $1.4 billion in the same period of 2023. For the full year, revenue reached $6.58 billion, a 3.4% increase from 2023. Their property-level operations generated $1.4 billion in Q4 with Adjusted EBITDAR of $461.2 million at margins of 33.1%.
The interactive segment, which includes online casino and sports betting, posted Q4 revenue of $275 million but an Adjusted EBITDA loss of $109.8 million. PENN has been strategic about its digital approach, particularly after parting ways with ESPN. The company is now focusing on its own theScore Bet platform and doubling down on online casino through its standalone Hollywood Casino app, which has shown impressive growth with over 60% year-over-year increase in gaming revenue in Pennsylvania and Michigan.
PENN ended 2024 with total liquidity of $1.7 billion, including $706.6 million in cash and equivalents. The company has announced plans to repurchase at least $350 million in shares during 2025 and has four retail growth projects in the works, including a new Hollywood Casino in Joliet expected to open in Q4 2025.
The decision to extend with Kambi rather than rush the migration makes financial sense. Retail sportsbooks generate solid margins, and disrupting those operations could cost more than the extension. Plus, PENN’s interactive segment is still finding its footing, with the company forecasting 2025 interactive revenue between $1.01 billion and $1.08 billion and Adjusted EBITDA between $115 million and $135 million.
The B2B Sportsbook Crowd: Kambi’s Competition
Kambi doesn’t operate in a vacuum. The B2B sportsbook technology space is packed with established players and emerging challengers. EveryMatrix ranks among the top competitors, offering a comprehensive range of iGaming products and services that include sports betting platforms, casino content, and payment processing. Their OddsMatrix product delivers data and odds for over 100 sports, covering more than 130,000 live events monthly.
BetConstruct has built a strong reputation with its Spring platform, supporting over 3,000 betting markets across 120+ sports. They offer both turnkey and white-label solutions with extensive customization options. Playtech, a giant in the gaming technology space, provides sports betting solutions alongside their massive casino and poker offerings, leveraging their scale and established operator relationships.
Soft2Bet has been gaining traction with their Motivational Engine, which gamifies the betting experience to drive engagement. They’ve been expanding rapidly across European markets. Altenar has positioned itself as a flexible sportsbook provider with particular strength in emerging markets, offering a modular platform that operators can integrate piece by piece.
Other notable competitors include Amelco, which provides customized trading platforms to top operators worldwide, and B3W Group, offering complete sports betting solutions with integrated payment systems and 24/7 support. Sporting Solutions brings over three decades of experience to bespoke trading and risk management services for tier-1 operators and lotteries.
What sets Kambi apart in this crowded field is their premium positioning and proven track record with tier-1 operators. The company powers over 40 operators globally and has established itself as the leading B2B sportsbook provider in Latin America, where they support market leaders like BetPlay and RushBet in Colombia, plus major operators in Argentina and Mexico. They’ve also won multiple industry awards, including Sportsbook Supplier of the Year at the Global Gaming Awards in Las Vegas and Sports Betting Supplier of the Year at the EGR North America Awards.
The Nature of These Partnerships
The Kambi-PENN relationship isn’t unique in the industry. B2B providers and operators regularly negotiate extensions as technology migrations prove more complex than initially projected. What makes this deal noteworthy is the scale, PENN is a major operator with 30 properties, and the timeline, pushing the migration out by an additional 19 months.
Similar deals have happened across the industry. Hard Rock Digital recently signed a landmark agreement with Kambi, and Brazil’s KTO Group selected Kambi as their sportsbook partner ahead of Brazil’s market regulation in early 2025. Rush Street Interactive also extended their partnership with Kambi, strengthening the provider’s foothold in the Americas.
These extensions benefit both sides. Operators get stability and continued access to proven technology while they develop proprietary systems, which is exactly what PENN needs. B2B providers secure revenue streams from major clients for longer periods, which helps smooth out quarterly results when market conditions get choppy.
Technology Migration: Harder Than It Looks
If you’re wondering why PENN needs until mid-2027 to build their own technology, you’re not alone. The reality is that sportsbook platforms are incredibly complex systems. They must handle massive transaction volumes in real-time, integrate with dozens of data providers, comply with different regulations in each state, manage risk across thousands of markets, and deliver a seamless experience to customers.
Building this from scratch involves assembling engineering teams, developing core platform infrastructure, integrating payment systems, building trading and risk management tools, creating user interfaces for multiple channels, and getting everything certified by regulators. Even large operators with deep pockets find this process takes longer than expected.
PENN’s approach shows strategic patience. Rather than rushing a half-built solution that could frustrate customers and damage revenue, they’re giving their teams the time to do it right. Meanwhile, Kambi’s established technology continues generating reliable cash flow across their retail network.
What This Means for the Future
The extension tells us a few things about where both companies are heading. For Kambi, it demonstrates that even as operators pursue proprietary technology, there’s still strong demand for premium B2B solutions during transition periods. The company’s modular product strategy, where they offer individual components like Odds Feed+ and Bet Builder alongside their full Turnkey Sportsbook, gives them flexibility to serve operators at different stages of their technology journey.
Kambi has been pushing into new markets, with Brazil representing a significant opportunity as regulations mature. Their Latin American presence continues expanding, and they’ve been active in Europe with partnerships like the recent multi-year deal with Holland Gaming Technology in the Netherlands.
For PENN, the extension provides breathing room to refine their proprietary platform while maintaining strong retail performance. The company is clearly betting big on interactive growth, with projections showing a 35% increase in Adjusted EBITDA for 2025 at the midpoint. Their focus on online casino through the Hollywood Casino app and sports betting through theScore Bet suggests a multi-pronged digital strategy that doesn’t rely on a single partner or product.
The retail sportsbook market continues to show solid fundamentals, with margins remaining attractive for operators. As more states regulate sports betting, the physical sportsbook experience at casinos remains a key differentiator and customer acquisition tool. PENN’s 30 properties give them a broad footprint to capture this value, and Kambi’s technology ensures they can compete effectively while building their own systems.
User Experience and Technology Details
When customers walk into a PENN property and place a bet, they’re interacting with Kambi’s technology whether they realize it or not. The betting kiosks provide self-service options that reduce wait times and staffing costs. Bring Your Own Device technology lets customers use their smartphones to bet while on property, blending digital convenience with the physical casino experience. Over-the-counter solutions handle traditional wagers for customers who prefer personal service.
Behind the scenes, Kambi’s trading team sets odds and manages risk, adjusting lines based on betting patterns and market conditions. This happens 24/7 across thousands of events, requiring sophisticated algorithms and experienced traders. The platform handles bet settlement automatically, ensuring customers get paid quickly and accurately.
Kambi’s technology stack processes billions of data points, which informs their odds compilation and risk management. This network effect means that as more operators join the Kambi ecosystem, the system gets smarter and more efficient. It’s one of the advantages of working with an established B2B provider rather than building isolated proprietary systems.
The company’s focus on stability and uptime is crucial during major sporting events like the Super Bowl or March Madness, when betting volumes can spike to hundreds of bets per second. Kambi’s platform has been proven at scale across their partner network, which gives operators confidence that their systems won’t crash when it matters most.
Market Position and Differentiation
Kambi has carved out a specific niche in the B2B sportsbook space by positioning themselves as a premium provider. While some competitors focus on low-cost, high-volume solutions, Kambi targets tier-1 operators who need sophisticated technology and are willing to pay for quality. This strategy shows up in their financials, with approximately 90% of revenue coming from sportsbook operations and the remainder from modular products.
Their approach to product development is comprehensive, building everything in-house rather than piecing together acquisitions. This creates a more integrated platform but requires significant R&D investment. The company employs over 1,000 specialists and continues to expand its capabilities, particularly in areas like AI-driven odds and esports.
The partnership with PENN validates this premium positioning. PENN could have chosen to accelerate their migration or switch to a lower-cost provider for the interim period, but they opted to stick with Kambi. This suggests they value the quality and reliability of Kambi’s offering, even at a premium price point.
For operators considering their technology options, the Kambi-PENN extension serves as a case study in the value of proven B2B partnerships during periods of transition. Building proprietary technology is a long-term investment, and having a reliable partner like Kambi can make the difference between smooth operations and costly disruptions.
The sports betting technology landscape will continue evolving, with trends such as crypto betting showing increased adoption. Against this backdrop, as more operators pursue proprietary solutions, the demand for premium B2B providers isn’t disappearing. Companies like Kambi that can deliver high-performance technology, comprehensive product suites, and proven stability will remain valuable partners, even in an industry trending toward in-house development.
