Cup Heroes

What is Cup Heroes?

Kambi’s path to the 2026 World Cup began with its initial investment in AI trading technology in 2021. The platform was deployed at scale during the Qatar 2022 tournament and fully embedded within its trading operations by 2024.

By 2026, the technology had already been tested across several seasons of top-level competitions including the Premier League and Champions League. AI now trades more than 70% of bets across Kambi’s network, including all football and tennis.

The 2026 World Cup was therefore the culmination of five years of development that had embedded AI throughout Kambi’s trading operations.

What is Cup Heroes?

The American Gaming Association (AGA) believes many federally regulated prediction markets have transformed into illegal gambling and sports betting outfits, siphoning revenue from the legal, taxed gaming industry. Prediction markets, the trade group argues, threaten jobs and tax revenue, as do other forms of illegal gambling like skill games, sweepstakes casinos, and offshore sportsbooks.

Illegal gambling operators are thriving at the expense of American consumers, siphoning billions in tax revenue from state governments, and undercutting the efforts of the legal market,” said AGA President and CEO Bill Miller. “It’s time for a national crackdown on the pervasive illegal market that is draining state coffers and putting people at risk.”

The AGA estimates that Americans wager $673.6 billion with illegal and unregulated gambling operators a year, with unregulated online slots and table games accounting for the lion’s share of the unlawful bets at $466.2 billion.

How to play Cup Heroes

Future proceeds from Entain’s full exit of Entain CEE will be used to reduce group reported leverage below 3x, with excess capital returned to shareholders, the company said.

Analysts remain bullish on the operator’s future following its H1 earnings report. A Goodbody note dated 13 August hailed “another positive update, with H1 adjusted EBITDA landing comfortably ahead of expectations”.

UK&I continues to be a “standout performance” said the note, as Entain sits comfortably ahead of its peers and appears to be seizing market share, amid fallout from the UK’s remote gaming duty tax hike in April.