Odds feed evolution: From commodity to catalyst for sportsbook differentiation

With every operator now relying on third-party providers to some extent, the broad insourcing-versus-outsourcing debate in the betting and gaming space has long been decided.

However, while it is now a question of what rather than whether an operator opts to outsource in a typical hybrid model that blends in-house capabilities with specialised external services, many find that striking the right balance with the provision of odds is a unique challenge.

There are multiple reasons for this. Historically, odds feeds have been delivered as a commoditised product, lacking the depth or sophistication demanded by operators and, most importantly, their customers.

This traditional model struggles to deliver a strong user experience and, by its nature, competitive pricing, particularly with more complex offers like player props and bet builders.

It is also common for a significant technical burden to be encountered. Each sport’s feed often requires an individual integration, leaving operators overwhelmed by a complicated roadmap scarred by technical issues as they grapple with the task of maintaining consistency across a multitude of markets.

“A big issue with many sportsbook platforms today is that a lot of them are built on legacy infrastructure,” Kambi’s sales director Dylan Mitchard says.

“That can lead to a disjointed user experience. For example, the ability to combine bets might be limited, or the product might feel inconsistent across different sports or between pre-match and live betting. This used to be more accepted five or six years ago when speed-to-market was everything. But now, customers expect a seamless experience across singles and same-game parlays.”

Quality, flexibility and control

Against the backdrop of traditional limitations associated with odds feeds is a growing demand among sportsbooks for more quality, flexibility and control over their odds to differentiate their offering from rivals and provide a more personalised experience. This is driven by the bettors themselves, many of whom are ready to compare bookmaker odds to find the best offer whilst searching for a more tailored experience.

However, expectations have grown among operators too, and there is an increasing interest not only in expansive player props – where siloed pricing solutions often struggle to deliver positive margin without sufficient liquidity and risk management – but also high-quality bet builder products.

The underlying priorities for a sportsbook’s odds offering, though, have actually changed little over the years, according to Simon Noy, Kambi’s senior vice-president of trading.

“It’s the fundamentals we’ve always focused on – offering and pricing,” he says.

Mitchard adds: “A lot of what we talk about in the industry comes back to user experience. Speed is crucial, and flexibility is also critical. Operators need the ability to differentiate their product and tailor it to local markets or specific customer segments, whether that’s to drive margin or improve engagement.”

Redefining odds feeds

In this context, Kambi believes it has redefined what a premium odds feed should provide with Odds Feed+, which was added to Kambi’s expanded portfolio of modular services last year.

As Mitchard points out, the solution is a “modularised version of what we’ve been doing successfully for 15 years”. Crucially, considering the traditional integration headaches previously referenced, Odds Feed+ is designed to integrate into any sportsbook via a single API.

Pricing is driven by artificial intelligence, liquidity and trading expertise, for both pre-event and in-play markets, with odds sharpened by the billions of bets processed each year by Kambi from millions of players across more than 60 jurisdictions.

Such global liquidity allows Kambi to “sharpen our odds in a way that’s both competitive and profitable”, according to Noy.

“It’s not just about the features, but delivering them safely at scale – and once an operator is integrated with us, they get access to our entire turnkey library, covering countless leagues, sports and markets worldwide. That’s a big differentiator.”

Mitchard explains that Kambi has built extensive experience of supporting operators to grow to become tier ones – such as LeoVegas in Europe, BetPlay in Colombia and ATG in Sweden. It is further enhancing its ability to do so through Odds Feed+.

“Now, for the first time, we’re making our pricing and trading capabilities available to operators with their own platforms,” he adds. “It opens doors to partnerships we couldn’t have had before because so many were focused on owning their own tech.”

With expansive player prop coverage, markets are priced dynamically with real-time adjustments and reliable margins, while bet builder integration is embedded into the sportsbook odds architecture.

Such support is increasingly important, with the growing popularity of player props and bet builders helping to drive growth in key betting markets worldwide. Indeed, there is anecdotal evidence that the clear majority of same-game parlay wagers across the industry now focus on performances by individuals.

With this in mind, Kambi plans to launch more live player props to enhance its already expansive offering, while also broadening Bet Builder coverage to include additional leagues this year.

“People are now invested in their favourite footballers or celebrities, so they want to back individual player performances instead of just teams – and that shift has really changed the market,” says Mitchard.

“There are now suppliers that focus onlyon player props, and some have an edge by being first to market. But there’s a challenge: many of these player prop markets are volatile and hard to price consistently.

“That’s not the case for us at Kambi. We maintain strong and stable margins, and that’s thanks to the power of our network.”

AI pricing

Noy adds that Kambi’s AI trading capabilities – in combination with the company’s liquidity – help to maintain healthy margins on complex markets.

However, when it comes to AI in a pricing context, he insists that it is not an either-or situation.

Noy adds: “Even at our most automated, where we’re using machine learning to price, we still rely on traders to respond to data that models can’t ingest.

“That said, in some of our more advanced products like Bet Builder, we have up to 1,000 inputs per game. It’s simply not feasible to do that manually at scale. You need machine learning to process all that data, and as the amount of data in this industry continues to grow, AI becomes even more critical.”

Furthermore, Noy explains that machine learning can identify patterns in the betting action that are difficult to interpret through traditional methods. “AI is already a game-changer, and it’s essential for doing this at scale and safely,” he says.

Kambi’s AI-powered odds, which are available via Odds Feed+, already account for more than a third of the company’s operator GGR.

The solution is able to adapt to changes in official data sources without disruption, and feeds can be tailored to local markets and strategic goals, ensuring operators have the ability to customise their offering.

“Our partners are often local champions in their regions, so they need a hyper-local offering,” Noy says. “When a partner signs on with Odds Feed+, they immediately get access to a wide-ranging, highly localised product, unlike some other providers who may focus only on a few major sports or regions.”

Mitchard adds: “When someone integrates with Kambi for high-turnover sports like European soccer, they automatically get access to everything else in our content library.”

Enabling innovation via odds feeds

Looking further ahead, though, there is an expectation that access to more data and more betting markets will continue to drive change in bookies’ odds.

“A lot of that’s driven by media,” Noy says. “Risk management will also become more important. AI-powered services will play a bigger role there. Today, our strength is offering wide selection and delivering strong margins, but over time, risk management could become a full service offering.”

According to Mitchard, the aim is to empower operators to “drive innovation themselves” through odds feeds. “They shouldn’t be seen as a commodity,” he explains. “We want operators to build and innovate on top of our feed.

“We need to provide the tooling and functionality for operators to drive innovation themselves. That’s where I see us going in the next five to 10 years.”

According to Noy, an evolution in the perception of outsourcing will help to facilitate this change at the heart of sportsbook betting odds.

“Today, every operator takes at least some odds externally,” he adds.

“That’s progress, but some are still hesitant to outsource certain sports. Over time, they will realise that B2B services don’t hinder differentiation – they enable it. That shift will continue.”

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