Why do you think Kambi’s Bet Builder grew so much in popularity during the Euros and Copa América?
One of the headline stats from the report is that more than 17 million unique Bet Builders were placed on the Kambi network across both tournaments. The percentage of bets that were Bet Builders on both tournaments rose significantly by comparison to the tournaments staged in 2021, underlining rising consumer appetite for the product, while those that engaged with Bet Builder were also more likely to return and bet on later rounds.
Not only is Bet Builder a product proven to engage customers, but it also drives enhanced margins for operators – the percentage of pre-match GGR from Bet Builder stood at close to 50% for both the Euros and Copa América.There are a number of factors at play in the rise of Bet Builder, with engagement rising steadily in the three-year period between these major international tournaments (2021-2024), driven by its ability to meet the growing desire of players to exert more control over their betting experiences.
Enhancing the product with new features and capabilities has been important to the rise of Bet Builder on our partner network. This includes the integration of live and cash-out functionality in 2023 as well as adding a wide array of fully combinable player stats props such as player assists, goal methods such as headed goal, and even woodwork-related bets.
How much does your data highlight the growing appeal of stats-based betting among bettors?
The appeal of player props stats-based betting on football was evident throughout both tournaments, with ‘player shots on target’ a top five pre-match offer on both the Euros and the Copa América. Their popularity has been growing markedly over recent years as Kambi continues to introduce innovative new markets such as ‘player to score or assist’ and ‘player to score from outside the box’.
This rise is commensurate with how data has conquered football over the last ten years – a decade ago the idea of ‘expected goals’ would have been the preserve of enthusiasts in the analytics community, but is now one of the first pieces of information that flashes up on football broadcasts the world over.
Did any of the betting data from the summer tournaments throw up any surprises for you?
‘Surprise’ isn’t the right term, but it was interesting to see a greater number of bets on the Copa América being made via Bet Builder than on the Euros, while those bettors also favoured larger, multi-leg combinations - Kambi data shows that 15% of bet builders placed on the Copa América contained four selections, compared to around 8% on Euro 2024.
There are a number of factors at play in the rise of Bet Builder, with engagement rising steadily in the three-year period between these major international tournaments (2021-2024), driven by its ability to meet the growing desire of players to exert more control over their betting experiences
Looking at the Euros, some of the leading lights pre-tournament in Kylian Mbappé, Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo were surprisingly kept off top spot in betting terms by Cody Gakpo of the Netherlands – perhaps reflecting the Dutchman’s productive performances in attack throughout the tournament in comparison to more restrained showings from others. It will be interesting to see if betting interest in Gakpo is sustained into the new Premier League season, particularly given that he does not yet appear to be first choice through the centre or off the left for new Liverpool manager Arne Slot.
How did you ensure high player engagement to attract new and returning bettors?
There are myriad factors which go into delivering a successful sportsbook, with so many intricacies in processes, risk and regulation. But it goes without saying that one of the core components is offering end users great depth of markets across all sports, delivered through a seamless and intuitive UI, high availability and low suspension times, and all highly combinable across different events and sports. Kambi’s Euros and Copa América Report goes a long way to highlighting how excellent combinability across the full product can keep players coming back – those customers which engaged with Bet Builder were more likely to retained in later rounds of the tournaments.
Betting activity on esoccer according to your data continued to grow even after the completion of the Euros and Copa América. Why do you think this was?
Esoccer gives sportsbooks an increasingly influential tool to continue engaging football fans in the breaks between matches and major competitions. The introduction of Kambi Group company Abios’ esoccer product across the network in early 2024 delivered significant uplift, enabling Kambi partners to offer thousands of matches every month – driven by real-time data and sophisticated modelling – which can keep football fans engaged throughout the year.
Overall, how do you reflect on this summer’s major tournaments?
International tournaments offer unrivalled opportunities to engage existing customers and attract new ones. We can reflect on a fantastic summer of sport, with not only the Euros and Copa América, but also the likes of the Olympics and Wimbledon, all delivered successfully to our more than 40 partners in over 50 regulated jurisdictions.
The main theme of the upcoming issue of Sports Betting Focus will be surrounding bet builders.
