Ubiquitous artificial intelligence is increasingly embedded in gambling and betting products and platforms. The question is not whether to engage with AI, but how to develop, deploy, use and regulate it effectively and responsibly. The policy and regulatory choices made now will influence whether AI is ultimately used to protect consumers or to exploit them.

For gambling operators, AI presents significant opportunities, from processing live information and developing advertising campaigns, to creating new features, applications and games. But it also introduces regulatory challenges and risks. AI could support player safety, but it also has the potential to intensify harmful gambling behaviours.

Algorithms allow operators to understand player behaviour and preferences with growing precision. This enables tailored content, services and advertising, while potentially improving the player experience, reducing choice overload, improving stickiness and reducing churn.

AI can also be a powerful responsible-gaming tool, particularly online. Several studies have used player-tracking data and machine-learning models to predict problem gambling using behavioural and monetary indicators. The results have been promising and can inform targeted interventions, including personalised approaches to problem gambling.

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Research in France illustrates how this can work. In 2015 and 2016, the French National Gambling Authority, then known as ARJEL, now ANJ, partnered with researchers to develop an online gambling harm-detection system using demographic and behavioural data. The resulting machine-learning models proved highly effective at classifying people by risk level, demonstrating how such research can inform harm-reduction strategies for online gambling.

Question of fairness 

AI remains an imperfect and developing technology. A key challenge is whether...