“Fortune belongs to the brave” – those are the words used by Brandon Walker, as the Amelco Business Development Manager gazes into his crystal ball to predict what could lie ahead for the company as the curtain gets set to fall on 2025.

Maintaining momentum is critical when occupying a space in such a fast moving environment, and that is particularly true when coming off the back of such a stellar year for the company.

In conversation with SBC News, Walker reflects on the standout moments that have shaped the past 12 months, and looks ahead to what’s on the horizon as Amelco plots the path to further global success.

SBC News: As we close out 2025, you’ve consistently referenced it as a milestone year for Amelco. What were the most significant indicators of this record-breaking performance, and what drove that success across your global portfolio?

Brandon Walker: 2025 has been a fantastic year for us. We’ve continued to establish our definitive tier-one dominance through sheer, relentless execution. We hit new revenue and client acquisition records across every metric, and that success is directly attributable to the uncompromising quality and resilience of our core product. 

In North America, we’ve planted our flag as one of the best tech providers on the continent, solidifying our position as the engine room for the industry’s most ambitious operators, helping partners like Fanatics and Hard Rock cement their top-three rankings against the duopoly of FanDuel and DraftKings.

Our platform’s stability during major events – the Super Bowl, March Madness – was flawless. Simultaneously, we staged a strategic resurgence in the mature UK market, securing significant new fixed-odds deals with the UK Tote Group and powering ambitious challenger brands such as Fitzdares. 

This simultaneous growth across such diverse, high-stakes markets proves the fundamental superiority of our end-to-end modular solution. We offer PAM, sportsbook, iGaming, and risk management – all under one roof, all best-in-class. Our competitors can’t match that integrated power, and that’s why our partners are winning.

We’re not here to chase trends; we’re here to build the foundational technology that makes our partners market leaders.

SBCN: Your partners’ apps continue to receive high marks in the US, and we saw a major upgrade to your horse racing product this year. How is Amelco balancing foundational product delivery—like a world-class horse racing vertical—with the need for cutting-edge innovation to give your clients a competitive edge?

BW: Our technology speaks for itself, and the market confirms it. You only need to look at the impressive Eilers & Krejcik Gaming app rankings to see our partners consistently outperforming the industry incumbents in product quality. That success is not accidental; it’s engineered. Our platform is built on a modular, API-first foundation, which is the only way to genuinely deliver both unshakeable stability and rapid innovation. 

Take our upgraded horse racing product, which is a perfect example of this philosophy. We designed it for unprecedented scale and stability during peak events—think the Cheltenham Festival or the Grand National – so our partners never have to worry about crashing during critical betting moments.

We’ve also future-proofed it by integrating real-time data feeds, dynamic race cards, personalised wagering options, as well as predictive pricing models. 

Thanks to the amazing work of our team, we’re now operating on another level – with the ability to deliver both highly competitive odds and a double-digit GGR for operators, which is unheard of.

Our goal is to be the best in the world, and we’re using our technology to elevate the traditional betting experience, making it faster, more intuitive, and infinitely more engaging for the modern punter. This ability to master the core, traditional verticals while embedding next-generation user experience is a critical differentiator.

SBCN:Looking at North America, new state regulation appears to have stalled, particularly on iGaming. How can states be convinced to seize this multi-billion-dollar opportunity? And for the challenger brands already operating, how does Amelco empower them to disrupt the entrenched duopoly?

BW: The US market’s biggest hurdle isn’t technology; it’s regulatory inertia – and that needs to change. The continued failure to legalise iGaming in states that have already embraced sports betting is, frankly, an indefensible missed opportunity.

These jurisdictions are haemorrhaging potential tax revenue into the black market while the legislative wheels turn too slowly. We need policymakers to understand that this is not just about gambling; it’s about consumer protection and massive economic uplift. 

As for the operator landscape, the FanDuel/DraftKings duopoly remains the defining challenge – but marketing spend is not a sustainable moat and we’re ready to take them on. Our entire strategy is built around equipping every challenger, every ambitious tribal operator, and every new entrant with the technological weapon needed to fight back.

We give them the agility to innovate faster and the product quality to retain players better than the big operators whose legacy systems are cumbersome and expensive.

Our relentless dedication in this space means that we can supply the end-to-end armoury needed to deliver a completely disruptive toolkit, enabling bespoke user journeys and hyper-localised offerings that can compete with the generic, one-size-fits-all approach of the legacy brands. 

You’ve made compelling arguments this year that UK and European operators must innovate or risk extinction, particularly in how they approach the next generation of players. How should operators overhaul their product strategy to meet the demand for a content-driven experience over a traditional odds-driven one?

The risk of extinction is genuine because complacency is rampant, particularly in mature European and UK markets. The new wave of bettors – Generation Z – are digital natives whose expectations were set by TikTok, Netflix, and Fortnite. They demand instant, elegant, and personalised experiences.

They simply will not tolerate the outdated, spreadsheet-like interface of a traditional sportsbook. Operators must make a philosophical shift: betting must become a content-driven entertainment platform, not just a transaction hub. 

The user journey needs to feel intuitive, leveraging swipe, tap, and micro-betting mechanics. We are pushing our partners to embed true gamification – think streak bonuses, leaderboards, and communal challenges—to tap into the social dynamics this generation craves.

If you are not delivering short-form video highlights, quick prediction markets, and hyper-personalised suggestions, you are failing to engage. The industry must realise that the future sportsbook is a fluid, adaptive platform that moves at the speed of social media, or they will lose this generation entirely to disruptors and the unregulated crypto black market.

SBCN: Finally, with such a strong 2025, what does the growth trajectory look like for 2026? What key regions and product verticals – such as your expansion into Europe – will be critical to Amelco’s continued success and evolution?

BW: Our trajectory is simple: continued market domination. If you’re ready for the big leagues, you’re going to want us on your side. We have used 2025 to build a market-leading foundation, and 2026 is about executing our expansion plan with force and precision. 

Europe is the next major frontier for us. Our platform’s core strength – its ability to handle the fragmented regulatory and technical complexity of the US – makes it perfectly suited to cut through the equivalent challenges across the dozens of European jurisdictions.

We are actively pursuing new partnerships with challenger brands across the continent who are demanding the scalable, best-in-class technology that we have proven in the most demanding markets the world can throw at us. 

It’s all about thinking forward, and true, long-term growth engines need to go beyond traditional verticals. We are pouring investment into our next-gen iGaming and Esports offerings to cater to the next-gen player. These are no longer side products; they are central to player acquisition and retention, and they will form the spearhead of our global strategy moving forward.

We are supremely confident in our product, our partners, and our vision. Amelco is here to power the next generation of global leaders, fortune belongs to the brave and we’re here to deliver the best to those who are ready.