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The use of AI monitoring systems by operators to tackle gambling-related harms has been accelerated by a desire among regulators to modernise their approaches to reducing harms, says one of the sector's leading companies.
Germany has already officially mandated the use of AI systems but other countries such as the UK encourage operators to adopt advanced techniques, including AI and machine learning, to better understand customer behaviour and identify problem gambling patterns, according to Stephen Aupy, business development manager at Mindway AI.
Aupy is also “pleasantly surprised” to see that the Brazilian Ministry of Finance mandated the use of AI monitoring systems through the Responsible Gambling Ordinance, which came into effect in early January 2025.
Aupy told Vixio GamblingCompliance that he has already seen Brazil starting to influence other jurisdictions considering online gambling regulations.
“I suspect that more Latin American markets may attempt to emulate Brazil’s regulatory approach toward addressing various facets of the industry, at this stage I am quite interested to see what transpires in Chile when or if they regulate,” he said.
This regulatory shift has strengthened the need to adopt intelligent monitoring systems in some markets, and as other regulations adopt similar requirements, this need will only become more prevalent.
“Given all the various stipulations surrounding RG intervention strategies that gambling operators are faced with in various markets, it’s very apparent that they require AL/ML-based systems to comply with specific regulatory requirements, especially when it comes to customer behaviours,” Aupy said.
Operators are also looking beyond outside assistance and many are building their in-house systems, which Aupy admits is “the biggest challenge for us today as a business”.
However, Aupy has seen several potential shortcomings to this approach.
“From a business perspective, I understand that operators wish to own their IPs, but the reality is, that whilst they have the data, they do not have the sufficient know-how, time and energy to create something truly impactful.
"This tends to be the recurring feedback that we have had from a handful of regulators that have audited specific operators that built their in-house models,” Aupy said.
Beyond responsible gambling, AI monitoring systems can be used to impact other parts of the gambling industry, particularly mergers and acquisitions (M&A).
Aupy explained that player monitoring systems can be used to gain an understanding of a company's player base, providing details on how many customers are potentially at risk or already experiencing harm.
There are benefits that the use of AI technology can offer operators that could encourage them to develop their in-house systems even beyond behaviour monitoring.
Brendan MacDonald, customer operations director at Entain, explained at the Betting and Gaming Council’s AGM on February 27 that the change that AI will usher in “will be incredible”.
MacDonald said it will be beneficial to understand how AI can be used to develop chatbots and voice bots that offer customers a “non-judgemental” environment to educate players and answer questions “we are not able to”.
“We should be doing more, with the support of the Gambling Commission, about how we can use that tech to support customers,” MacDonald said.
