A Measured Approach to AI in iGaming

We’re in the middle of a déjà vu. It’s 1999 and every business executive feels a burning need to have an online presence. Clearly, the internet is going to be a big thing. If you have a website, you’re well positioned to benefit from the internet’s massive growth. If you don’t have a website, not only are you missing out on that juicy VC money, but why wouldn’t you take advantage of such revolutionary technology?

Queue one year later. The internet was still going to become a big thing.

But the dot-com bubble also burst.

It’s now 2024 and we’re in a similar scenario, with artificial intelligence (AI) as this cycle’s protagonist. On the one hand, AI is revolutionary technology that has the potential to dramatically change the iGaming industry. On the other hand, when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

In this essay, I will share my insights on the practical use cases for AI in iGaming. I hope these insights will make you want to experiment with AI without overcommitting yourself, so that the inevitable downslope of the hype cycle won’t hurt your business.

Create a List of Problems First

Before you decide on anything AI, you need to understand what problem you’re trying to solve with it. Create a written list of your existing, ongoing business problems and try to find plausible solutions for each one, ideally together with whoever is the expert in the area of the problem. Then actively search for solutions that are not AI. 

For example, you may not need AI to improve the performance of your games. Maybe you just need to hire a few developers to optimize the code. Maybe you just need a predictive mathematical model that distributes server load better. Maybe your users don’t even see the performance of your games as a problem. Maybe you just need a vacation.

Only when you’ve exhausted your list of alternative solutions should you compare them against AI. Will AI be a significant improvement over the other solutions? You’d be surprised at how often the answer is still no. However, in some cases, the answer will be yes. Rejoice, because then you’ll have found a real-world application of AI, applicable directly to your business.

What AI Is Really Good At

AI is really good at essentially one thing: pattern recognition. Throw a petabyte of data at a man and he will crush under its weight. Throw a petabyte of data at AI and it will quickly find the patterns you’re looking for. Given how much data every iGaming business has access to, all the best practical use cases of AI will revolve around pattern recognition.

Better Player Engagement

An important objective for every iGaming company should be to provide its players with a better gaming experience. AI can analyze a player’s behavior and preferences to create personalized gaming experiences that will improve their engagement and, in turn, make them a more loyal customer. This can come in the form of:

• Tailored rewards. AI can identify the types of bonuses or rewards that are most appealing to individual players. Offering these personalized rewards will improve player satisfaction and loyalty. For example, weekend-specific promotions for players who primarily play on weekends.

• Player feedback analysis. AI can analyze in-game player feedback to identify common themes and areas for improvement for any game. Developers can then use these insights to refine gameplay mechanics and improve user experience.

• Dynamic content generation. AI can dynamically adjust game content based on player preferences. For example, if a player enjoys puzzle-solving elements, the game can dynamically introduce more puzzles as they progress.

Better Fraud Detection and Security

Just as AI can improve player engagement, it can equally protect the digital perimeters of your business. An AI-driven fraud detection system can protect your platforms from malicious activities. This then protects your reputation and positions you as a trustworthy, secure platform that players can safely use without worrying about their money or their data.

• Real-time transaction monitoring. AI can monitor transactions in real-time to identify suspicious activities, such as unusual deposits or withdrawal patterns. This allows you to identify and intervene to prevent potential fraud.

• Behavioral biometrics. AI can analyze player behavior, from mouse movements to typing patterns, to detect unusual player behavior that could indicate account takeovers or bot usage.

• Identity verification. AI can streamline the identity verification process, reducing the workload on your staff while still ensuring that players are who they claim to be. In essence, a more secure platform with a much reduced risk of identity fraud.

Better Marketing Strategies

Your marketing strategies can benefit from AI’s powerful ability to recognize patterns. For example, Blask is an advanced iGaming analytics platform that I co-founded, and it uses AI models to search for new iGaming brands. This helps keep our database updated, which along with our dashboards helps ensure that our clients always have a full view of what’s going on in the iGaming industry.

AI can also help identify emerging trends and player preferences, which can then guide product development and marketing strategies. It can segment players based on a wide variety of variables, which allows you to create targeted marketing campaigns. And it can analyze your competitors, to see what products work for them, how they’ve positioned themselves, and how similar you actually are with the businesses that you believe are competitors.

Better Customer Support

AI has had perhaps the most adoption in customer support. And it can indeed really improve your customer support, as long as it helps players to quickly find a solution to their problem (which sometimes means eventually giving them the ability to speak to a person). Efficient and effective AI assistance can look like the following:

• AI-powered chatbots. These bots can handle common player inquiries and issues, from account management to payment processing to game rules. Because these chatbots are available 24/7, they can provide immediate assistance while reducing the workload of your customer support.

• Multilingual support. AI-powered translation tools can offer multilingual support to players from different regions, which improves the accessibility and inclusivity of your gaming platforms.

• Sentiment analysis. AI can analyze communications between players to identify potential dissatisfaction, so your customer support or developer team can proactively address issues before they are brought up.

The Road Ahead

AI is a powerful tool, but it is not a substitute for human judgment. It is in the best interests of the iGaming industry to use AI in a responsible manner. To improve the player’s gaming experience while also protecting the most vulnerable. By prioritizing ethical practices, iGaming businesses will build trust and loyalty among their players, strengthening the long-term sustainability of the overall industry.

As for now, I would encourage you to experiment. Talk to ChatGPT. Speak to Claude. Perplexity. Any of the AI tools. Feed it some data, see what it does, but be mindful of its limitations. If you’re aware of what it can and cannot do, you’ll have a new and extremely powerful tool in your toolkit. It’s not a magic wand, but it’s a darn sharp Swiss army knife.

Last Week on The 15-Minute Mastery Show

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