The Ultimate 5

About The Ultimate 5

CME Group (NASDAQ: CME) and the index provider announced a partnership in July. With the MLB deal in place, the exchange operator will offer derivatives based on the baseball indexes.

“The agreement paves the way for CME Group to list weekly, monthly and quarterly cash-settled futures contracts, pending regulatory review, based on the CME FSPI MLB benchmarks,” according to a statement issued by FutureSports.

Launch dates for the MLB team futures contracts weren’t revealed, but spring training for the 2027 season commences on Friday, Feb. 19, according to the league schedule.

About The Ultimate 5

Black Cube, an intelligence firm hired by Playtech in 2020 to look into alleged illegal behaviour at its rival Evolution, released a divisive report into Evolution’s actions. Evolution denied and refuted much of its findings.

Evolution then commissioned Spectrum Gaming Group to produce a report on its actions and the validity of the Black Cube report. Produced in 2022, the report has long been subject to confidentiality despite Evolution claiming the report exonerated the company.

Playtech on Wednesday published a statement highlighting what it claimed were compliance failures at Evolution, written into the Spectrum report.

What is The Ultimate 5?

Player propositions were included in 65% of Bet Builders, up from 25% in 2022. Meanwhile, player shots on target became Kambi’s second-largest pre-match betting offer by turnover, while other popular selections included a player to score or assist.

“Customers seek personalised experiences, extensive player proposition bets and the ability to build highly customised wagers in real time,” Lamb says. “Meeting these modern expectations through manual trading is no longer realistic at scale.”

AI also helped Kambi reduce the delay between a customer selecting an in-play bet and being able to place it. Its dynamic live delay technology enables it to set bespoke live delay on an individual bet level, optimising the UX and alleviating friction. Across the Premier League and World Cup, Kambi reduced live betting delay by more than 40% between August 2025 and July 2026.