Few areas of sports betting illustrate the pace of regulatory change better than the wave of NCAA player proposition betting restrictions across the US. As individual states introduce different rules – from outright bans in states such as Maryland and Ohio to restrictions that apply only to in-state colleges in New Jersey and New Hampshire – operators have had to respond quickly, ensuring betting markets remain compliant without disrupting the customer experience.
Yet the challenge extends far beyond US college sports, with operators facing an increasingly fragmented global regulatory landscape. Even where regulators share similar objectives, the rules and implementation timelines can vary significantly, leaving operators to navigate an increasingly complex web of market-specific requirements.
As a globally established sportsbook partner, Kambi has seen first-hand how regulatory change is reshaping the demands placed on operators and the wider gaming ecosystem. Indeed, ahead of launching in France, the supplier created a Regulatory Mapper which was designed with future markets in mind, enabling regulatory mapping to be reused as new jurisdictions regulate and helping reduce the effort required for future launches, if similar requirements appear again.
For Paul Finnigen, director of operational compliance at Kambi, the biggest challenge for operators is managing multiple layers of regulatory complexity at the same time. However, while keeping pace with regulatory change is undoubtedly demanding for operators, it need not become a barrier to growth.
“Over the past few years, we’ve seen regulation become significantly more complex,” Finnigen tells iGB. “Regulators are placing greater emphasis on responsible gambling, reporting, technical certification, marketing restrictions and localised betting rules, with requirements continuing to evolve long after a market launches.”
Compliance as a competitive advantage
Kambi’s launch in France illustrates how a regulatory challenge can be transformed into an opportunity through a combination of expertise, technology and long-term planning. Rather than creating a one-off solution, the Regulatory Mapper tool ensures its sportsbook offering would be compliant with different regulations in different jurisdictions.
Alongside this, Kambi’s proprietary Dynamic Filtering Engine allows market availability to be configured quickly and consistently for each jurisdiction, enabling operators to manage the availability of sports, leagues, bet offers and players in line with nuanced local requirements.
‘When regulatory expertise is built into the platform and operating model, compliance becomes an enabler of growth’
Leading suppliers such as Kambi increasingly embed regulatory knowledge across their compliance, technology and operational functions, allowing regulatory requirements to be considered throughout product development and market-entry planning rather than treated as a final hurdle. Kambi’s SOC 1, ISO 27001 and WLA-SCS certifications also provide a strong foundation of independently validated controls, helping streamline certification and market-entry activities across multiple jurisdictions.
“Many of those regulatory capabilities have already been implemented and proven in practice before operators enter new markets,” Finnigen added.
“When regulatory expertise is built into the platform and operating model, compliance becomes an enabler of growth rather than simply a legal requirement. Operators can enter new markets more efficiently, respond more quickly to regulatory change and reduce the operational burden on their internal teams.”
Compliance may therefore be evolving from a necessary cost of doing business into a competitive advantage. For operators, the challenge is finding an operating model capable of delivering that advantage consistently across multiple jurisdictions. That is where Kambi believes its fully managed Turnkey Sportsbook comes into its own.
The case for a turnkey model
Kambi’s Turnkey Sportsbook is built on the premise that operators should not have to develop every sportsbook capability themselves. Rather than the expense of building an in-house platform or headache of coordinating multiple specialist suppliers, operators gain access to an end-to-end solution that combines trading, risk management and much of the underlying regulatory implementation within a single managed platform.
Integrating multiple suppliers may provide additional flexibility, however it requires operators to coordinate complex technology ecosystems, manage multiple integrations and continually invest in specialist expertise to keep pace with changing regulation and customer expectations.
“Our Turnkey Sportsbook removes much of the complexity associated with launching in regulated markets,” Finnigen notes. “Rather than coordinating multiple suppliers or building specialist sportsbook capabilities in-house, operators gain access to an end-to-end solution designed to support efficient market entry from day one.”
For Kambi, the benefits extend beyond launch. With trading, risk management and much of the underlying regulatory implementation taken care of, operators can devote more attention to building their brand, acquiring customers and tailoring their proposition to local markets.
“Having a single technology partner also simplifies day-to-day operations,” Finnigen added. “Operators don’t need to manage multiple integrations or coordinate different suppliers when requirements change, helping them launch more efficiently while delivering a consistent player experience across markets.”
Technology drives the next advantage
Regulatory expertise may help operators enter new markets, but long-term success depends on offering a differentiated sportsbook product once they arrive. Kambi has placed AI-powered trading at the heart of its sportsbook offering, particularly as sportsbooks seek to offer more personalised betting experiences and respond instantly to in-play events.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup provided a notable demonstration of that shift. Having previously announced plans to deploy fully AI-powered trading across the tournament – compared to around 60% prior – Kambi was able to provide its operator partners with the speed, accuracy and scale required to support increasingly dynamic betting markets.
“If operators want to scale successfully over the next five years, they’ll need technology that’s built to adapt”
The tournament also highlighted changing player behaviour. Across Kambi’s network in both mature and emerging markets, engagement with higher-margin products such as Bet Builder, Live Bet Builder and player proposition markets continued to grow as bettors sought more personalised ways to engage with matches.
According to Finnigen, Live Bet Builder alone accounted for 20% of all live bets during the tournament, compared with just 3% at the previous World Cup in 2022. Popular player markets, including ‘to score or assist’ and ‘player shots on target’, further underlined the importance of fast pricing, rapid bet settlement and an intuitive product experience.
Choosing the right partner
While regulation remains an immediate challenge for operators, Kambi believes the industry’s longer-term winners will be those that choose technology that keeps pace with shifting markets, customer expectations and competitive pressures.
“If operators want to scale successfully over the next five years, they’ll need technology that’s built to adapt,” Finnigen says. “Regulation will continue to evolve, so flexibility, scalability and compliance expertise need to be core selection criteria rather than afterthoughts.
“A platform should enable operators to enter new markets efficiently, implement regulatory changes with minimal disruption and deliver a consistent customer experience across jurisdictions.”
For Finnigen, adaptability will become the industry’s defining competitive advantage.
“Ultimately, the operators that succeed won’t simply be those that enter the most markets,” Finnigen added. “They’ll be the ones that integrate new technologies most effectively, using AI, automation and data to make better decisions, operate more efficiently and deliver experiences that keep players coming back.”
很少有领域能比美国各州掀起的NCAA球员命题投注限制浪潮更能体现体育博彩监管变革的速度。随着各州出台不同规则——从马里兰州和俄亥俄州等地的全面禁令，到新泽西州和新罕布什尔州仅适用于本州大学的限制——运营商必须迅速作出反应，确保投注市场合规，同时不干扰客户体验。
然而，这一挑战远不止于美国大学体育，运营商正面临日益碎片化的全球监管格局。即便监管机构目标相似，规则和实施时间表也可能大相径庭，运营商不得不在日益复杂的市场特定要求网络中摸索前行。
作为一家在全球布局的体育博彩合作伙伴，Kambi亲眼见证了监管变革如何重塑对运营商及更广泛博彩生态系统的要求。事实上，在进军法国市场之前，这家供应商便创建了“监管映射器”（Regulatory Mapper），该工具在设计之初便着眼于未来市场，使监管映射可在新司法管辖区立法时重复使用，并在类似要求再次出现时，帮助减少未来市场启动所需的工作量。
对于Kambi运营合规总监Paul Finnigen而言，运营商面临的最大挑战是同时管理多层监管复杂性。然而，尽管跟上监管变化对运营商而言无疑要求很高，但这不必成为增长的障碍。
“过去几年，我们看到监管变得明显更加复杂，”Finnigen对iGB表示。“监管机构越来越重视负责任博彩、报告、技术认证、营销限制和本地化投注规则，而且这些要求在市场启动后仍会持续演变。”
合规作为竞争优势
Kambi在法国的启动表明，通过专业知识、技术和长期规划的结合，监管挑战可以转化为机遇。监管映射器工具并非打造一次性解决方案，而是确保其体育博彩产品符合不同司法管辖区的不同法规。
与此同时，Kambi专有的动态过滤引擎（Dynamic Filtering Engine）允许针对每个司法管辖区快速、一致地配置市场可用性，使运营商能够根据细微的本地要求管理体育项目、联赛、投注选项和玩家的可用性。
“当监管专业知识被内置于平台和运营模式中时，合规便成为增长的推动力”
像Kambi这样的领先供应商越来越多地将监管知识嵌入其合规、技术和运营职能中，使监管要求能够在产品开发和市场进入规划的全过程中得到考虑，而非被视为最后一道障碍。Kambi的SOC 1、ISO 27001和WLA-SCS认证也提供了经独立验证的强大控制基础，有助于简化多个司法管辖区的认证和市场进入活动。
“其中许多监管能力在运营商进入新市场之前就已经实施并在实践中得到验证，”Finnigen补充道。
“当监管专业知识被内置于平台和运营模式中时，合规便成为增长的推动力，而不仅仅是一项法律要求。运营商可以更高效地进入新市场，更快地应对监管变化，并减轻内部团队的运营负担。”
因此，合规可能正从一项必要的经营成本演变为一种竞争优势。对运营商而言，挑战在于找到一种能够在多个司法管辖区持续提供这种优势的运营模式。这正是Kambi认为其全托管交钥匙体育博彩（Turnkey Sportsbook）大显身手之处。
交钥匙模式的优势
Kambi的交钥匙体育博彩建立在一个前提之上：运营商不应被迫自行开发每一项体育博彩能力。运营商无需承担自建平台的费用，也无需为协调多个专业供应商而头疼，而是可以获得一个端到端解决方案，将交易、风险管理和大部分底层监管实施整合在一个托管平台中。
整合多个供应商可能提供额外的灵活性，但这要求运营商协调复杂的技术生态系统、管理多个集成，并持续投资于专业知识，以跟上不断变化的监管和客户期望。
“我们的交钥匙体育博彩消除了在受监管市场启动所伴随的诸多复杂性，”Finnigen指出。“运营商无需协调多个供应商或在内部构建专业体育博彩能力，而是可以获得一个端到端解决方案，旨在从第一天起支持高效的市场进入。”
对Kambi而言，其益处不仅限于启动阶段。由于交易、风险管理和大部分底层监管实施均已得到处理，运营商可以将更多精力投入到品牌建设、客户获取以及针对本地市场定制其产品上。
“拥有单一技术合作伙伴也简化了日常运营，”Finnigen补充道。“当要求发生变化时，运营商无需管理多个集成或协调不同供应商，这有助于他们更高效地启动，同时在各个市场提供一致的玩家体验。”
技术驱动下一个优势
监管专业知识或许能帮助运营商进入新市场，但长期成功取决于他们进入市场后能否提供差异化的体育博彩产品。Kambi已将AI驱动的交易置于其体育博彩产品的核心，尤其是在体育博彩公司寻求提供更个性化投注体验并即时响应滚球事件之际。
2026年FIFA世界杯有力地展示了这一转变。此前宣布计划在整个赛事期间部署完全由AI驱动的交易——此前约为60%——Kambi得以向其运营商合作伙伴提供支持日益动态化投注市场所需的速度、准确性和规模。
“如果运营商希望在未来五年成功扩张，他们需要能够适应变化的技术”
该赛事也凸显了玩家行为的变化。在Kambi覆盖成熟市场和新兴市场的网络中，随着投注者寻求更个性化的方式参与比赛，对Bet Builder、Live Bet Builder和球员命题市场等高利润率产品的参与度持续增长。
据Finnigen称，仅Live Bet Builder一项就占赛事期间所有滚球投注的20%，而2022年上一届世界杯时这一比例仅为3%。包括“进球或助攻”和“球员射正”在内的热门球员市场，进一步凸显了快速定价、快速结算和直观产品体验的重要性。
选择合适的合作伙伴
尽管监管仍是运营商面临的直接挑战，但Kambi认为，行业长期的赢家将是那些选择能够跟上市场变化、客户期望和竞争压力的技术的企业。
“如果运营商希望在未来五年成功扩张，他们需要能够适应变化的技术，”Finnigen表示。“监管将持续演变，因此灵活性、可扩展性和合规专业知识必须成为核心选择标准，而非事后考虑。
“平台应使运营商能够高效进入新市场，以最小干扰实施监管变化，并在各司法管辖区提供一致的客户体验。”
对Finnigen而言，适应能力将成为行业决定性的竞争优势。
“归根结底，成功的运营商不仅仅是那些进入最多市场的企业，”Finnigen补充道。“他们将是那些最有效地整合新技术，利用AI、自动化和数据做出更好决策、更高效运营，并提供让玩家持续回流的体验的企业。”