Brandon Walker, Business Development Manager at Amelco, assesses the consistent progress being made across the U.S. as the industry prepares to descend on Florida for SBC Americas.
Amelco has established a strong presence across the U.S. market over the last few years. Since entering, what would you say have been some of the biggest changes that have taken place?
The market looks very different from the one everyone rushed into back in 2018. What started as a crowded field of operators at every level has now consolidated into an oligopoly. The major players have been absorbing mid-tier sportsbooks, the smaller operators have largely dropped away and you are left with a hierarchy that is genuinely difficult to break into through commercial ambition alone.
What that consolidation tells you is that technology has become the real differentiator. It is a tough ask for any operator to go head-to-head with FanDuel or DraftKings on marketing spend or brand recognition but the right tech stack changes things completely.
The fact that two of the six most prominent operators in the U.S. right now are running on Amelco infrastructure says a great deal about where Fanatics and Hard Rock Bet have positioned themselves. 2026 has been a milestone year for us and that statistic sits at the heart of why.
Tribal Gaming is arguably one of the US’s biggest growth opportunities given the saturation of the big-four operators. What’s the state of play and what do they need?
BW: It is where most of the genuinely interesting conversations are happening right now. We have had a presence in the tribal space for some time, through our partnerships with the Quapaw Nation in Arkansas and the Seminole Tribe in Florida, so we understand this community well and we take it seriously.
The first thing to understand is that no two tribes are the same. There are tribal casinos that are highly profitable retail operations with no urgency to move online, and that is a perfectly rational position. But for those ready to make the transition, the technology has to make it feel seamless rather than disruptive.
Multi-state operations have historically struggled with fragmentation, apps requiring different logins, inconsistent KYC processes and digital wallets that do not talk to each other. Our travelling wallet addresses that by giving players a single centralised login that travels with them, and our out-of-the-box Class II integration means tribes are not trying to retrofit their retail heritage into a digital framework but building something coherent from the ground up.
California and Oklahoma are touted as the two states with the biggest tribal growth potential – what potential do you see there?
BW: I strongly believe that tribal operators have a huge opportunity to amass market share and compete with the biggest commercial brands in these states.
California is the more complex picture. The tribes have a strong hold on the market and have been deliberate about maintaining it. The sweepstakes ban that came into effect in January 2026 cleared out a lot of the unregulated product and any sports betting framework is realistically looking more like 2028, contingent on consensus across the full tribal community.
The tribes have made it clear that any future sports betting initiative is going to put them in the driving seat, and it has to include all tribal communities in agreement.
Then you have Oklahoma, which in my view has the most growth potential for online. The tribes in this state have plenty of influence and have been shaping the regulatory conversation rather than simply reacting to it.
The defeat of the Senate amendment to HB 1047 in April 2026 shows where the state is headed. That amendment had significant backing, including from the OKC Thunder, yet it was voted down because the tribes were not prepared to cede control of the terms.
That kind of discipline protects long-term value and our role is to make sure that when regulation does land in these states, tribal operators are not playing catch-up with commercial brands on technology. We power the world’s biggest betting brands and we can put that same tech in their hands.
What’s going to be the catalyst for more tribes taking the online space? What’s the big sales pitch for why Amelco should be their partner?
BW: The catalyst is the younger generation. The younger generations within tribal communities will increasingly realise they risk being left behind, seeing their market share and profits eroded.
Players are on their phones constantly, and they expect an entertainment-led experience in line with the seamless navigation found in giants like Netflix, TikTok and Instagram.
We can deliver that same experience – with our award-winning bespoke apps, built for the world’s biggest betting brands, as well as our next-level AI and personalisation, ensuring each players’ gaming experience is unique.
Our pitch is simple. We provide the accelerator programme to make that happen. If we look at our partnership with Fanatics, they came to us as a sports merchandising brand with no prior presence in betting or online casino and within 12 months were a fully operational heavyweight in both verticals.
The technology worked as an accelerator, taking a brand with strong existing equity and converting it into a serious market participant at real pace. We can do the same time and time again.
Final question – SBC Summit Americas is next week – what are you looking forward to?
The timing makes this one feel particularly significant. With G2E and SBC Lisbon falling across the same dates this autumn, Fort Lauderdale is effectively the last major North American industry touchpoint of the year, which concentrates the right conversations in one place.
Being in Florida also feels right given our relationship with the Seminole Tribe. We know the market, we know the people and we know why it’s one of America’s favourite destinations.
We will be on the ground showcasing our full end-to-end solutions and spending real time with tribal and commercial operators, making the case that competing with the biggest betting brands does not require their budgets.
With Amelco, you get the market’s best technology and a partner who understands the space from the inside. We’re trusted to deliver by the best, and I’ll be in town to show why that is.
