Kindred expands Kambi partnership to 2026, develops new in-house sportsbook platform

Kindred Group has entered into a new agreement to run until the end of 2026 with B2B provider of sports betting services and long-time partner Kambi Group, the gambling company announced on Wednesday. 

As Kindred enters its new partnership with Kambi, the company will be extending its current proprietary Kindred Racing Platform into a full in-house sportsbook platform, a press release informs. This is set to reflect Kindred’s long-term strategy of “greater end-to-end control” of its product offering and customer experience.

The new three-year agreement is set to provide Kindred with operational security for its sportsbook in the years to come. Moreover, the plan to move onto a proprietary sportsbook over time will enable Kindred to offer customers “a unique end-to-end product experience,” while improving operational efficiency.

Kindred enters new agreement with Kambi and announces long-term in-house Sportsbook plans https://t.co/cD2cXfTwHN

— Kindred Group (@KindredGroup) February 8, 2022

According to the company, Kindred today operates with a mix of suppliers across all product segments, with nearly 40% of sportsbook gross winnings revenue in 2021 derived from proprietary products and in-house trading.

Kindred’s upcoming sportsbook platform will combine in-house and third-party products “to ensure a first-class end-to-end customer experience” while lowering the group’s supplier risk exposure. As such, Kambi’s technology and services will remain “an integral part” of Kindred’s offering, and the companies will continue to work to evolve the partnership both during and beyond the current contract period.

"As we increase our footprint across Europe, North America and Australia, and expand our revenue from locally regulated markets, we are taking a close look at how our product suite is set up,” said Henrik Tjärnström, CEO Kindred Group. 

“Our award-winning Kindred Racing Platform, developed over the past eight years, is consistently performing above expectations, and has seen significant above-market growth since it was launched,” the CEO added. “We are excited to have taken this step and to develop it into a full Sportsbook, while also securing a continued collaboration with our long-term and valued partner Kambi for the coming five years.” 

According to Tjärnström, the team behind the Kindred Racing Platform, who built it with sports betting in mind from the start, “are well into the process” of expanding the platform into an in-house controlled sportsbook platform. 

The CEO describes the development of the new sportsbook platform as the next step in the company’s long-term strategy of securing greater product control, following the acquisition of B2B iGaming software supplier Relax Gaming in 2021.

"Kambi and Kindred continue to enjoy a fantastic relationship and I'm delighted this agreement sees both parties commit until 2026,” commented Kristian Nylén, CEO and Co-founder, Kambi Group. “Kambi prides itself on being the key enabler for visionary operators in regulated markets across the world, and we look forward to supporting Kindred with our modularised sportsbook technology and services over the next five years."

Kindred’s total sportsbook-related headcount today consists of approximately 200 employees, and is expected to double in the period up until rolled out across selected markets, the company says.

The in-house sportsbook will also provide “a significant future profitability improvement potential” through operational efficiency, a highly scalable and localized product offering, as well as the ability “to fully control targeted trading and customer experience considerations.”

The new sportsbook plans follows Kindred's announcement of its financial results for FY21, which the gambling group described as its "strongest year-to-date" despite a challenging Q4, in which tough comparatives and a cessation of Dutch services led to a 32.8% drop in revenue in the final quarter of the year.

However, for the full financial year, the company posted total revenue of £1.2 billion ($1.6 billion), up 11% versus the prior year, and underlying EBITDA growth of 15% to £332 million ($450.5 million).