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Curwen points to Raptor 2 as an example of what this means in practice. The game went through no fewer than 17 versions during its first couple of weeks of development.

“Speed of iteration is probably the biggest difference,” he says. “Traditionally, every significant change can create another development cycle involving several different teams. With Game in a Box, the creator can iterate much closer to real time.”

Crucially, Curwen sees those efficiencies as a means to an end rather than the primary objective.

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“To this point, sportsbook product creation has largely been guided by a trading department’s ability to profitably price and risk-manage certain bet offers,” Lamb says. “AI trading lifts those limitations, while also enabling that existing human expertise to be leveraged more effectively.”

The 2026 tournament demonstrated why Kambi believes this total integration of AI is necessary. Sportsbooks are no longer built primarily around match results and traditional pre-match markets. Bettors increasingly expect to construct wagers around individual players and specific moments within a game.

The number of Bet Builder bets on the 2026 World Cup doubled compared to the 2022 tournament, with the increase particularly pronounced in-play, where seven times as many live Bet Builders were placed. They accounted for 22% of all live bets, compared with just 3% four years earlier.

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That relationship ended in April, just six months after it started. Yahoo Finance confirmed the end of that agreement to Bloomberg but noted that Polymarket remains an advertising partner.

“The new hub will display probability data from Polymarket for key economic, government, & market outcomes,” said Polymarket in a post on X last November. “Each probability view will be paired with related news, quotes, & analysis from Yahoo Finance + its partners. By combining trusted data with in-depth analysis, the hub will empower investors to make smarter, more strategic prediction market investments.”

Yahoo—which is 90% owned by private equity giant Apollo Global Management, the firm that acquired operating control of The Venetian in Las Vegas—did not elaborate on why the Polymarket integration ended.