Gambling harm and responsible gambling have become banner words in the gambling industry over the past several years. In 2023, we already saw a number of markets around the world move in strides to address the matter, and 2024 is unlikely to see reduced interest in the matter as well.
Casino – illustrative photo. Image credit: Esteban López via Unsplash, free license
As regulator focus has shifted to protecting through intervention and early-prevention, so have casino sites began to look harder at the disposable tools they could use to address what has been a growing problem. This has led to the deployment of new verification technology, real-time monitoring, and prevention safeguards put in place to ensure business sustainability by balancing the user experience and responsible gambling.
Today, most high tech casino sites have at least one partner that specializes in the deployment of such monitoring that allows the compliance teams to ensure that consumers are protected from arguably the more pernicious sides of gambling. This has been done on top of existing business models, and not despite them.
In other words, highly successful online casinos have been able to implement these tools to minimize harmful gambling revenue, while ensuring the lifelong value of their consumers, proving that responsible gambling is indeed good for business in all of its forms.
This begs the question, however, how are companies that want to be at the cutting-edge of this important change able to stay there? We take a closer look.
AI and Big Data as the Basis of a Safer Gambling Industry
Regardless of the big changes that generative-AI is already driving in the world, the gambling industry stands to benefit particularly from the phenomenon. Businesses will use AI and big data to build products that are calculated and based on player preferences.
As regulation and oversight grows more unapologetic, however, these same businesses, and high tech casinos in particular, are leveraging these solutions for the purposes of real-time monitoring.
This means that if consumers are spending more than they usually do or there is a discrepancy between their financial status and spending, the casinos will be compelled to intervene. The implementation of such technology is good not only because it empowers gambling companies to act, but it obligates them.
Defenses that argue that AML and KYC checks, or social responsibility checks were failed because of genuine error in due processes, would be harder to maintain, as technology is making it possible for companies to have all the information they need to protect consumers in the matter of minutes – and sometimes sooner.
Many of the companies that deploy the solutions – both the casino and software developers – have focused on training staff to be aware of how they can tap into what are powerful tools without any downtime or hassle. No coding knowledge is necessary, for example, for a compliance specialist working for a casino to determine whether a player is playing above their means.
It’s all integrated in a dashboard that makes it easy for relevant casino representatives to ensure that consumers are protected.
Will Harmful Gambling Indeed Decline as Result of Tech?
The process has already begun in earnest. There are two factors why we can reliably state that we expect to see further decline in harmful gambling that occurs at online casinos. First, there are more companies out there that are building solutions that are designated to help both businesses and consumers.
Some examples here include smooth onboarding and identity verification that is simple enough to follow through for the customer and casino both. As mandatory checks are being rolled out globally, more and more operators want to make sure that:
- They are compliant and do not get embroiled in regulatory or enforcement action and;
- They are able to carry out smooth onboarding processes that do not harm retention.
Both goals set out by high tech casinos are achievable through the deployment of the solutions developed by those companies. The high-tech safeguards that casinos make use of do not require any specialist knowledge of software or coding. The onus has shifted on soft skills and training people who can monitor and intervene, and the help of real-time monitoring is definitely helping significantly towards this goal.
The Future Is Here, Is the Industry Ready?
Not all casinos are equally prepared or fully understand the human and business cost of not being pro-active when it comes to big technology. The entry cost can admittedly be prohibitive for certain solutions, but the good news is that the costs of implementing such safeguards are actually dropping rapidly, and that casinos are realizing that paying for advanced monitoring is much better than facing regulatory pressure and the ensuing financial penalties that accompany them.
The question of whether industry can be made safer by implementing such solutions is definite – yet. However, the pace of implementing technology will happen in different gears. Some, such as the more tech-savvy casinos will be moving at a much faster pace than casinos that are old-fashioned in most of the ways they do and conduct business.
This strive towards innovation though is not going to go unnoticed, as it will create a sort of peer-pressure that will see more companies and operators committed to the goal of streamlining their processes and setting higher and more robust standards that are specifically focused on preventing harm and making sure that consumers are indeed safe.