Company News News

Published: November 10, 2026

Allwyn to take full control of IWG in $120M deal, brings sportsbook tech (Kambi Group) in-house

What's the deal? Allwyn Entertainment will acquire the remaining 30% of digital games supplier Instant Win Gaming (IWG) for an estimated $120 million (€107 million), giving it full ownership of the developer. The multinational lottery operator already held a 70% stake, acquired in September 2024.

The other half: Allwyn separately agreed a €50 million deal with sportsbook technology provider Kambi Group to bring its betting platform in-house. The arrangement gives Allwyn a global perpetual licence to Kambi's source code, letting it develop and run its own platform rather than lease one.

What's the endgame? Allwyn wants more control over its product development. It operates sports betting across several markets, generating more than €800 million in gross gaming revenue, and expects a unified platform to deliver economies of scale and cross-selling between betting and iGaming.

Why now? The moves extend a wider push to own proprietary technology, following Allwyn's 2026 combination with OPAP, its majority stake in US fantasy-sports operator PrizePicks, and investment in the UK National Lottery. The IWG purchase follows a put option held by the company's minority shareholders.

The terms: The Kambi consideration spans three years to 2029, with roughly half incurred in 2027. Kambi will provide development and deployment services during the transition, and a dedicated team will transfer to Allwyn. The company called it its first source-code licensing deal of this kind.

What could go wrong? Building in-house trading, pricing, and risk-management capabilities carries cost. Allwyn expects central costs to rise by a low tens of millions of euros annually from 2027, though it anticipates partial offsets from segmental savings and revenue synergies over time. The IWG deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2027, remains subject to customary closing and working-capital adjustments.

The numbers behind IWG: The developer specialises in e-instant games — digital versions of instant-win lottery games — and serves lottery operators in the US, Europe, and other markets. It recorded 30% year-on-year growth in adjusted EBITDA in 2025, according to Allwyn. Founders Rhydian Fisher and Simon Bucknall will stay in their roles.

The signal: The twin deals mark a shift from leasing gaming technology to owning it. For Kambi, whose sportsbook powers partners in more than 100 jurisdictions, the hybrid structure — a licence paired with ongoing trading and risk-management services — points to a new model for suppliers as large operators bring core capabilities in-house.