Online wagering traffic surged as sportsbooks and data firms reported rapid growth: Gambling.com Group Limited posted Q3 revenue of $39 million, up 21% year-over-year, while Sports Data Services revenue quadrupled to $9.2 million. Management said sports data services drove much of the expansion and now represent a substantive portion of 2025 revenue, as products like Opticods expanded odds coverage to 10 new sports, 350 leagues and more than 1,000 betting markets year to date.
That scale matters because multi-league betting and multi-sport betting markets widen the calendar for wagers. Season overlaps, staggered playoffs and broadened odds coverage create continuous opportunities for bettors and push sportsbook engagement higher across days and weeks.
Calendar shifts in soccer add fuel to the trend. Major League Soccer’s move to a July–to–May season and the U.S. Soccer NextGen College Soccer Committee’s recommendation to move college soccer to a scholastic-year schedule would align pro and college calendars and could produce extended spring soccer moments. Those aligned windows drive higher betting platform volume and give operators fresh events to market.
In short, richer data products and overlapping league calendars are expanding multi-sport betting markets and converting sporadic interest into sustained online wagering traffic for sportsbooks and adjacent businesses.
Key Takeaways
- Gambling.com reported Q3 revenue of $39M, with 21% YoY growth, highlighting rising demand.
- Sports Data Services revenue jumped to $9.2M as data products expanded odds across hundreds of leagues.
- Opticods and related feeds now cover 10 new sports and 1,000+ betting markets, boosting sportsbook engagement.
- MLS calendar changes and proposed college soccer shifts could create longer, high-profile betting windows.
- Multi-league betting turns season overlap into steady betting platform volume rather than episodic spikes.
Why multi-sport betting markets are driving record platform traffic
Expanded calendars and staggered league seasons lengthen wagering windows and keep bettors active. MLS’s shift toward a July–to–May season, which moves playoffs into spring soccer playoffs beginning in 2027–28, is a tangible example of betting calendar alignment that eases fall congestion. That change opens new event windows when NFL and college football noise drops, creating a clearer run for soccer-focused promotions and continuous wagering.
The NextGen College Soccer Committee white paper favors a scholastic-year season with an April playoff festival. Dan Helfrich argues that aligned MLS and college calendars can form a late spring celebration of soccer, with marketing and fan activation synergies across broadcasts and stadiums. When college cups follow MLS regular seasons, season overlap and coordinated timing produce contiguous periods of high liquidity.
Broader event windows create continual engagement
Calendar shifts extend the months when operators can market high-stakes matches. The post–March Madness to early May window becomes a long stretch of meaningful events, which in turn supports continuous wagering across pregame and in-play markets. Sportsbooks can layer same-game parlay pricing and multi-operator odds during these stretches to capture sustained attention.
Cross-league storylines and fan activation
College narratives fuel narrative-driven betting by offering clear story arcs: underdog runs, coaching departures, and regional rivalries. Examples like Furman’s run to the College Cup create spikes in fan engagement that sportsbooks can monetize through deeper markets and in-play props. The college-to-pro pipeline gives bettors reasons to follow players from campus to MLS or NWSL, linking futures and transfer markets to fan interest.
When college stars land in MLS or the NWSL, bettors chase rookie performance and transfer odds. That continuity makes it simpler for fans to follow development pathways and for operators to offer cross-product promotions. Brands that activate fans through storytelling — as seen in campaigns from Red Bull and Nike — turn promotions into experiences, which increases lifetime value and keeps users returning.
Operator data products and odds coverage scale to support demand
Supply-side platforms have scaled to meet multi-league demand. Opticods expanded odds coverage and enterprise features such as multi-operator odds, bet settlement tools, and dynamic same-game parlay pricing while doubling Q3 revenue year over year. These enhancements let operators add leagues, markets, and in-play depth without breaking risk limits.
Comprehensive sports data services are a prerequisite for profitable expansion. Rich feeds enable deeper markets, faster bet settlement, and robust risk management. Marketplaces and integrations, including OpenOMS-style ecosystems and partnerships between vendors and suppliers, broaden available markets and simplify operations for smaller operators.
Prediction markets and institutional makers also increase demand for advanced data. Participants from Wall Street and platforms like Kalshi create liquidity expectations that push sportsbooks to offer professional-grade odds coverage. Broader liquidity and better data make multi-league product expansion operationally viable and commercially attractive.
Read more on traffic and operator dynamics in this industry overview: global sportsbook traffic trends.
How marketing, SEO dynamics, and channel diversification impact wagering growth
Search volatility has become a core operational risk for sportsbooks and affiliates. Recent quarterly results from Gambling.com Group Limited show marketing revenue flat in Q3 after unfavorable Google search dynamics, with NDCs down 13% to 101,000. That shift in search ranking dynamics produced a measurable organic search impact: adjusted net income fell 16% to $9.3 million and adjusted net income per share slid 26% to $0.26.
Traffic diversification is now part of the playbook. Management accelerated marketing diversification, increasing investment in non-SEO channels and expecting those channels to exceed SEO in revenue contribution in Q4 for the first time as a public company. This move aims to smooth short-term swings in marketing traffic that can depress new depositing customers and wagering volumes.
Operational trade-offs are visible on the P&L. Gross profit margin tightened to 91.2% from 94.7% partly because of higher cost of sales tied to traffic diversification and acquisitions. Operating expenses rose about 30% on an adjusted basis as the company scaled enterprise sales and product investments to support long-term subscriber value.
Search visibility and short-term headwinds
Unpredictable search ranking dynamics can reduce organic acquisition for months, making budgeting harder for sportsbook operators and marketing partners. Low-quality spam results outside the U.S. were cited as a significant SEO headwinds factor, hurting discoverability and the immediate funnel from visit to deposit.
Short-term declines in organic search impact translate directly to fewer bets placed and compressed marketing ROI. That reality forced affiliates to test more defensive tactics like targeted content updates, technical cleanups, and event-driven pre-positioning around marquee races and tournaments.
Shift toward non-SEO channels and recurring revenue
The company’s strategic response emphasized non-SEO channels to offset organic weakness. Paid search, social, influencer partnerships, and direct response creative received more budget as managers sought marketing traffic that is more predictable and measurable.
At the same time, recurring revenue provided stability. Subscription revenue was 24% of total Q3 revenue and, when combined with marketing revenue share arrangements, recurring revenue reached 49% of the quarter’s top line. Rotowire subscribers rose about 20% year over year, boosting lifetime value and reducing reliance on purely acquisition-driven funnels.
Monetization mix: subscriptions, data services, and affiliate revenue
The evolving monetization mix is shifting toward higher-margin, repeatable streams. Sports data monetization surged over 300% year over year and produced $9.2 million in Q3. Opticods revenue doubled year over year as enterprise sales and prediction-market offerings scaled.
Affiliate revenue remains meaningful but faces regional constraints, with growth in the UK and Ireland limited by tax and market factors. The company still deploys affiliate partnerships while growing subscriptions and sports data services that yield steadier cash flows.
- Free cash flow in Q3 was $9.6 million, down from $14.2 million year over year.
- Total cash stood at $7.4 million with a $70.5 million undrawn credit facility available.
- Share repurchases continued, with 562,000 shares bought for $4.7 million in the quarter.
Revised full-year guidance targets roughly $165 million in revenue and $58 million adjusted EBITDA, reflecting current headwinds while preserving growth investments. Readers can learn more about event-driven SEO tactics and sportsbook acquisition strategy at sportsbook SEO.
Product, regulatory and calendar trends that sustain multi-league engagement
Product innovation is widening the choices bettors see across leagues. Dynamic same-game parlay pricing, enriched prop markets and early cash-out options give operators fresh ways to present events. Vendors such as Opticods and marketplace integrators are delivering bet settlement services and modular product sets that let sportsbooks layer promos and micro-markets without rebuilding core platforms.
Calendar alignment is reshaping seasonal demand. MLS moving toward a July-to-May cycle starting 2027–28 and possible NCAA college soccer shifts toward a spring playoff festival create contiguous high-value windows. Those timing changes, combined with traditional transfer window betting bursts, make it easier to stitch college and pro narratives together and maintain momentum across months rather than isolated weekends.
Regulatory trends are creating parallel opportunities outside standard sports books. Prediction markets follow a partially distinct compliance path and expand the addressable market for data services. Operators and data vendors are positioning products to serve both state-regulated sports betting and broader prediction market activity, which supports deeper liquidity and advanced risk management tools for sportsbooks.
The implications are practical: sportsbooks gain better risk tools and steadier handle, affiliates and content partners must diversify channels to offset search volatility, and sports marketers can convert local fandom into recurring engagement through storytelling tied to calendar peaks. Aligning calendars, scaling data infrastructure and leaning on product innovation — from same-game parlay features to transfer window betting integrations — can sustain multi-league engagement into 2026 and beyond, as firms like Gambling.com Group Limited forecast continued growth in sports data services and diversified marketing.
