LSports cuts jobs in AI-driven restructure
- Dotan Lazar, co-founder and CEO of Israeli sports data provider LSports, has announced a round of redundancies as part of a strategic pivot towards automation and artificial intelligence.
- The company is repositioning itself as a leaner organisation, with AI and automation described as the core of its new strategy rather than simply a supporting tool.
- LSports says its ambitions now extend beyond sport, targeting leadership in real-time data collection and delivery across verticals.
LSports is cutting staff as co-founder and CEO Dotan Lazar reshapes the Israeli sports data provider around artificial intelligence.
In a LinkedIn post published today on 6 May, Lazar described the move as one of the most difficult decisions of his tenure — and a necessary one.
A painful but deliberate call
Lazar said the company had grown significantly in recent years but that the pace of change in the wider market demanded a more decisive response. Writing in Hebrew, he described the AI and automation revolution as “not just a tool for us — it is the core of our new strategy.”
The goal, he added, is to lead in real-time data collection and delivery beyond sport, targeting new verticals. To achieve that, LSports would build a leaner, more efficient and sharper organisation — one that directs all its resources toward what generates real value and breakthrough technology.
Lazar acknowledged the human cost directly. He described parting with talented people who had been an integral part of the company’s journey as “the painful meaning of this move,” and committed to supporting those affected with sensitivity and respect. He also called on industry peers to hire the departing staff, saying those leaving today “are the best there is.”
The number of roles affected has not been disclosed.
Product expansion context
The restructuring comes months after LSports accelerated its product roadmap. In January 2026, the company launched what it described as an industry-first prediction markets data feed, aggregating real-time information from exchanges including Kalshi and Polymarket into a normalised format for sportsbooks.
The feed covers markets spanning politics, finance, crypto, climate and health — a move that already signalled LSports’ intent to expand its addressable market well beyond traditional sports data.
LSports also acquired Polish sports data firm StatScore earlier this year, expanding its scouting and data collection footprint. The company currently serves more than 15,000 leagues and over 3 million fixtures annually across more than 100 sports.
Wider industry trend
The cuts at LSports sit within a broader wave of AI-linked restructuring across the iGaming supply chain.
Bragg Gaming shed 12% of its global workforce in January 2026, citing a need to realign ahead of its goal of becoming an AI-first company by 2027. DraftKings announced a company-wide reorganisation in February, with analysts noting the push to embed AI across internal and external functions.
Across the wider technology sector, close to 80,000 employees were laid off in the first quarter of 2026 alone, with nearly half of those cuts attributed to AI-driven workflow changes.
For LSports, which competes with heavily capitalised rivals such as Sportradar and Genius Sports, the ability to build scalable, automated infrastructure carries direct commercial relevance. The company has long positioned itself as a lower-cost alternative to official-rights-dependent data providers, and automation sits at the heart of that model.
Lazar’s explicit framing of AI as the company’s strategic core — rather than a cost-cutting rationale — sets the LSports announcement apart from many of its peers.
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