Mark Cryan hosts sport management alumnus to discuss sport gambling

Kevin Cunningham ’19, who works for Kambi, a sportsbook software supplier, visited with several groups during a campus visit.

Elon graduate Kevin Cunningham ’19, a pre-sales consultant for Kambi, a global leader in sport betting technology and services, visited Elon’s Sport Management Department recently to discuss the sport betting industry with students. At the invitation of Assistant Professor Mark Cryan, Cunningham addressed two sport management classes and the Baseball Analytics club, and spoke individually with several students during his time on campus.

At the invitation of Assistant Professor Mark Cryan (right), Kevin Cunningham ’19 visited campus in October to discuss the sport gambling industry.

“It was great to be back at Elon to share some information about the sport betting industry with Elon students. It’s fast-growing field with a big impact on the sport industry, and will be a source of a lot of jobs,” Cunningham said.

“This is such a new, fast-moving part of our industry, it’s important for the students to hear from people working in this sector,” Cryan added. “We are really lucky to have an alum like Kevin who is willing to come speak with our students.”

In summer 2019, Cunningham began working as a competitive intelligence analyst for Kambi. He was recently promoted to the position of pre-sales consultant, supporting the sales team with research on new clients and markets.

Based in Sweden, Kambi is a major provider of sport betting services and has worked extensively in the legalized sport betting markets of Europe. Since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sport gambling in May 2018, sport betting has become a multi-billion-dollar business. Major sport betting companies like Barstool, TwinSpires and BetRivers are all powered by Kambi’s technology and services.

According to Cunningham, there was a 225% growth in the amount money bet nationally between 2018 to 2020, reaching $21.5 billion last year. States regularly broke their monthly records for betting volume in the last half of 2020. But, he added, “there’s still a great deal of potential that remains, and we’re only into the infancy of this market right now.”

For more about Kambi, visit www.kambi.com.