US online sports betting market slowing, Sportradar execs say
According to top brass for Sportradar Group, the company was impeded in the second quarter by slowing growth in the United States market for online sports betting. Unfavorable currency-exchange rates also constituted a headwind, they said.
Sportradar updated earnings guidance to reflect these factors. Revenue was now modeled to increase 19% to 20%, reaching €1.5 billion (US$1.7 billion)1 EUR = 1.1534 USD
2026-08-03Powered by CMG CurrenShift. Cash flow was projected to increase between 24% and 27%, hitting €360 million (US$415 million)1 EUR = 1.1534 USD
2026-08-03Powered by CMG CurrenShift to €368 million (US$424 million)1 EUR = 1.1534 USD
2026-08-03Powered by CMG CurrenShift. The third quarter will be the best for revenue growth, added Chief Financial Officer Craig Felenstein.
Felenstein explained that expected deals, particularly with prediction markets, have come through but are taking time to complete. Therefore, they were not modeled in full-year projections. “All the fundamentals of the business remain exactly the same,” he insisted.
“It flatlined in its growth,” Felenstein said of US OSB trends, adding that he was not expecting significant pickup through the back half of the year. Second-quarter results were further impeded by the success of the New York Knicks in the NBA playoffs.
Felenstein remarked that the quarter was “a broad comment on the weakness of the overall market” in the US. Baseball volumes, however, were still strong.
CEO Carsten Koerl lauded the recent World Cup, saying that “a big chunk” of Sportradar customers hailed from Latin America and North America. “The final was for us record-breaking,” he continued. “It had the highest turnover.”
Koerl said Sportradar was on track to exceed its €25 million (US$29 million)1 EUR = 1.1534 USD
2026-08-03Powered by CMG CurrenShift target for revenue synergies, mostly attributable to the absorption of IMG Arena. The company, he said, expanded the rollout of a premium golf service, in conjunction with the PGA, and live-play visualization for Major League Soccer.
Thanks to prediction markets, Koerl continued, affiliate marketing had its best quarter. Mutual adjacencies in prediction markets were, he said, expanding the total addressable market in the US.
“We will power key players in the prediction-market ecosystem,” Koerl said of recent pacts with Kalshi and Polymarket that cover the ATP, NHL and other leagues. He added that Sportradar was in talks with other event-contract providers. Prediction markets were, Felenstein said, “poised to accelerate growth in the second half of the year.”
Queried about balancing high fixed costs against slow growth in American OSB, Felenstein replied, “I don’t think our strategy is changing at all.” Sportradar’s content, he said, was driving significant amounts of revenue and margin.
“It took us quite a while to initiate the deals with the leagues and the players,” Koerl explained of the slower-than-expected prediction-market rollout. “We are very bullish but we execute this very disciplined. The delay in the prediction markets is not only in our hands. We have to wait for our league partners.”
In particular, a wide-ranging Kalshi deal was contingent on the approval of the NBA, according to Felenstein. He opined that prediction markets were only scratching the surface of their capabilities. “There’s a myriad opportunities moving forward,” ones not reflected in Sportradar guidance.
Koerl added that most of the event-contract activity had been in states such as Texas and California that lack OSB. “According to our clients, there is very little cannibalization.”
As for the litigation currently roiling the prediction-market industry, Felenstein responded, “We operate where we are supposed to operate. I can’t speak to these lawsuits.”
Addressing short-selling allegations, Koerl responded that Sportradar’s audit committee had refuted the charges. The company, he said, had rigorous integrity measures in place. Regulatory approvals also had been received in the US and elsewhere in July, and sports leagues continued to sell Sportradar their rights.
Sportradar’s PlayRadar igaming service was, Koerl said, certified in South America, Europe and Canada, with US jurisdictions soon to follow. “We are doing all of this organically and efficiently, using existing resources,” he added.
“The product is in a very early stage of its life cycle,” Koerl continued. “It needs a bit of time.” He said a larger launch was planned for this year in Lisbon with Michael Jordan in attendance.
Koerl and Felenstein were pressed on the subject of mergers and acquisitions. The CEO said that none were planned, specifically in the affiliate market: “We are very strong in our tech stack. But we keep our eyes very open” in other areas.
“There’s no better use of our resources than to buy back shares at this moment,” added the CFO.
Sportradar ended the quarter with €251 million (US$290 million)1 EUR = 1.1534 USD
2026-08-03Powered by CMG CurrenShift cash on hand and no debt.
David McKee is an award-winning journalist who has three decades of experience covering the gaming industry.
Verticals:
Sectors:
Dig Deeper
Related stories
The Backstory
Slower U.S. betting growth tests a data-heavy model
Sportradar’s latest warning that U.S. online sports betting growth has flattened puts pressure on a strategy built around sports data rights, live-betting products, advertising services and a push into adjacent markets. The company is not portraying the U.S. slowdown as a structural break. Executives instead have argued that the broader business remains intact, supported by international revenue, league partnerships and the integration of IMG Arena. Still, the current guidance reset shows how dependent even data providers can be on betting volumes, sports calendars, currency swings and the pace of regulation.
The backdrop matters because Sportradar has spent the past year telling investors it can grow faster than the underlying sports betting market by selling more products to existing customers and by monetizing league rights more effectively. That proposition was central to its investor messaging in April, when analysts highlighted the company’s scale, use of artificial intelligence and ability to generate pricing power from proprietary data. As Complete iGaming reported in its coverage of Sportradar’s investor day with league executives and operators, management presented a long-range plan tied to live betting, richer data feeds and customer expansion across sports wagering and igaming.
Investor expectations were set high
That April presentation helped define the market’s expectations. Analysts saw Sportradar as a pure-play way to participate in global sports betting growth without taking direct sportsbook risk. The company told investors it could benefit as proposition and in-play betting expand, especially in the United States, where each additional percentage point of prop-betting mix was described as meaningful incremental revenue. That created a high bar for execution, particularly in a market where the largest operators have become more disciplined and state legalization has slowed.
The investment case also rested on operating leverage. Sportradar has argued that once it secures sports rights and builds technology, it can sell data, odds, visualization, integrity tools and marketing services across multiple customers with limited incremental cost. Analysts at the time pointed to automated data collection and internal coding efficiencies as evidence that AI could help control expenses while broadening coverage. But high fixed costs cut both ways. When U.S. online sports betting volumes cool, rights and technology spending do not immediately fall, which makes quarterly growth more sensitive to betting activity and sports outcomes.
Management has consistently emphasized that most of the company’s revenue comes from outside the United States. That reduces reliance on any single market but does not eliminate the importance of U.S. growth to Sportradar’s valuation. North America has been pitched as a high-growth region, while U.S. live betting and prop wagering have been portrayed as long-term revenue engines. The latest comments suggest that engine is still running, but not accelerating at the pace investors had anticipated.
IMG Arena became the main accelerant
The acquisition of IMG Arena is central to Sportradar’s attempt to offset slower sportsbook growth. The deal, which expanded Sportradar’s portfolio of sports rights and fan-facing data products, was repeatedly described by executives as a way to deepen content, improve customer retention and create revenue synergies. In November, the company raised guidance and announced additional share repurchases days after closing the acquisition, according to Complete iGaming’s report on Sportradar’s higher guidance and IMG Arena integration plans.
At that point, Chief Executive Carsten Koerl framed IMG Arena as an extension of Sportradar’s broader content strategy, bringing “must-have” betting products that could be absorbed into the existing portfolio. The company also pointed to stronger results from Major League Baseball rights, extended soccer agreements and continuing National Basketball Association work. The message was that proprietary content would drive durable growth even as the sports betting market matured.
By March, executives said the integration was ahead of plan. In coverage of Koerl’s comments that Sportradar’s three-year strategy remained on schedule, Complete iGaming reported that management was targeting higher streaming volumes, additional data products and new applications of performance models across basketball, tennis and soccer. The company also cited a customer-retention rate above 100%, reflecting expanded spending from existing clients. Those factors help explain why management continues to say the fundamentals have not changed, even as it adjusts near-term guidance.
Prediction markets offered a new U.S. path
Prediction markets have become the most important adjacency in Sportradar’s U.S. narrative. Because event-contract platforms can operate in states where online sports betting is not legal, they potentially give Sportradar exposure to large markets such as California and Texas without waiting for state wagering legislation. Executives have said cannibalization of traditional sportsbook clients appears limited, in part because prediction-market activity is concentrated in jurisdictions that lack legal online sports betting.
That opportunity became more concrete in June, when Sportradar announced a global agreement with Kalshi. Complete iGaming’s analysis of the Sportradar-Kalshi deal and its implications for prediction markets noted that Kalshi would receive data streams from MLB, the NHL, MLS and the UFC, with sublicensing provisions that could allow Sportradar to serve market makers and other participants. Analysts viewed the deal as an early step toward a broader prediction-market ecosystem, although they cautioned that financial benefits might be more visible in 2027 than immediately.
The causal link to the current quarter is clear. Sportradar’s guidance assumes some benefit from prediction markets, but executives say deals have taken longer to finalize because league approvals and market structures remain unsettled. A wider Kalshi arrangement involving additional leagues, including the NBA, depends on sports-rights approvals. That delay limits near-term revenue recognition even as management says the long-term opportunity remains substantial.
Regulatory and integrity questions linger
Prediction markets also carry regulatory risk. Their growth has raised questions about whether sports event contracts are distinct from gambling or simply another form of wagering under a different federal framework. Analysts have warned that micro-betting or highly granular event contracts could blur those lines further. For Sportradar, the issue is not merely legal. The company sells itself to leagues, sportsbooks and regulators as an integrity-focused data provider, so its expansion into prediction markets must be paired with safeguards around player protection, market monitoring and permitted use of official data.
That sensitivity intensified after short-seller allegations this year accused Sportradar of providing services to illegal or unlicensed gambling operators. The company denied the claims and moved quickly to defend its compliance processes. In a first-quarter earnings call covered by Complete iGaming, Sportradar executives pushed back on the allegations, saying the company supports only licensed businesses and runs strict know-your-customer checks. Koerl also announced personal share purchases, while the company expanded buybacks to signal confidence in its valuation.
The allegations created another layer of scrutiny around a company whose business depends on trust. Sports leagues must believe Sportradar can protect data rights and flag suspicious activity. Regulators must be comfortable that it is not enabling unauthorized gambling. Investors must assess whether compliance controversies could threaten revenue or slow new partnerships. Management has said only a small percentage of revenue was potentially at risk and later said its audit committee refuted short-seller claims, but the episode reinforced why integrity remains central to Sportradar’s commercial pitch.
The stakes now shift to execution
Sportradar’s current challenge is to prove that slower U.S. online sports betting growth is a manageable headwind rather than a sign that its most valuable market is maturing faster than expected. The company still has no debt, significant cash, a large buyback program and a growing content portfolio. It also has multiple growth avenues, including Latin America, igaming, advertising, premium golf products, live visualization and prediction markets.
But the next phase is less about vision than conversion. IMG Arena synergies must translate into revenue, prediction-market agreements must move from announcements to scale and U.S. sportsbook weakness must be absorbed without undermining margin expectations. Currency headwinds and player-friendly sports outcomes may be temporary, but a flatter U.S. market is harder to dismiss. That is why the latest guidance shift matters: It tests whether Sportradar’s diversified data platform can deliver the growth investors were promised when the broader betting cycle is no longer doing as much of the work.
