Welcome to the future! Here, the chips fall where they may, and artificial intelligence (AI) is the dealer!
Have you ever daydreamed about a world where your biggest gamble is trusting an AI to pick your outfit for the day? Then you're in the right place.
I'm here to deal out some insights on how AI might be the wildcard the gambling industry didn't know it needed.
Now, I've been a filmmaking enthusiast. I've seen AI script a drama so intense it would leave Shakespeare questioning his quill. I've heard AI mimic my voice with such precision it made me wonder if I was talking to myself. And as someone fascinated by the magic of editing, I've watched AI cut footage so slick it would make Scorsese blink twice.
But when it comes to gambling, the conversation around AI has been, let's say, a bit more of a poker face.
So, buckle up, or should I say, shuffle up, as we investigate if AI can predict the next big win. Or if it's just another player at the table, bluffing its way through.
Will AI be the ace up our sleeve, or are we just rolling the dice on another tech trend? Let's spin the wheel and find out how AI might be the most exciting game-changer in the gambling world.
Who knows? By the end of this, we might all be betting on AI as the next big jackpot winner!
AI Disrupting Major Industries
Recently, I've been watching how AI has disrupted the creator economy.
- Are you struggling to come up with an idea or a script? AI can write one for you.
- Do you find recording a voiceover in a foreign language hard? AI can mimic your voice and talk like you would (say hello to AI dubbing).
- Are you afraid of sitting in front of the camera? AI can create a new avatar that will appear on the screen instead of you.
- Is video editing too time-consuming for you? AI can edit your video in seconds. It can even spit out ten short-form clips to maximize your marketing strategy on social media.
These have already been major disruptions in the film industry. Professionals look more willing to adapt to the new AI environment if they want to keep their jobs.
In gambling, though, there hasn't been much talk of such groundbreaking disruptions. Even AI has trouble coming up with ideas itself of how AI can disrupt the gambling industry.
How Artificial Intelligence thinks AI will Affect the Gambling Industry
I can't wait to see how AI will disrupt the gambling industry.
That was what I saved in my note-taking app, that I would tweet some day on X. Instead, I decided to write this article.
I had no idea how AI would disrupt the gambling market despite my long experience as an advantage player.
So, naturally, I asked ChatGPT itself for some ideas.
The response was subpar and honestly felt lacking. It was more like how tech in general will disrupt the gambling industry. You can find a few AI-inspired (or written) articles here and here.
This article suggests people visiting casinos with an Apple Vision Pro to count cards on blackjack.
I find that ridiculous. On the one hand, casinos will never allow such devices near their tables. On the other hand, automatic shuffling machines have already made card counting obsolete.
This is the original response I received to my prompt. Nothing in this list is as groundbreaking as in the film industry above. Feel free to skip reading this; I've included it only for reference:
- Personalized Gaming Experiences: AI can analyze a player's past behavior to customize game offerings and betting options. This in turn creates a highly personalized gaming experience. This could increase engagement by suggesting games that align with the player's preferences and betting patterns.
- Fraud Detection and Prevention: AI algorithms can monitor and analyze vast amounts of data in real time. This could identify suspicious activities, such as cheating or money laundering. It can significantly enhance the security of online gambling platforms, protecting both the operators and the players.
- Improved Customer Service: Through the use of chatbots and AI-driven customer support services, gambling platforms can provide instant assistance to players. These AI tools can handle a wide range of queries, from account management to game rules, improving the overall user experience.
- Game Development and Fairness: AI can be used to develop more complex and fair gaming algorithms, ensuring the integrity of the games. By analyzing outcomes and player behavior, AI can help in creating games that are not only challenging and engaging but also fair and unpredictable.
- Responsible Gambling: AI can identify patterns indicative of problem gambling and can prompt interventions such as temporary self-exclusion or limit reductions. This proactive approach could help mitigate gambling addiction and promote more responsible gambling behaviors among players.
- Market Analysis and Strategy Development: Operators can use AI to analyze market trends, player preferences, and competitive strategies to make informed decisions about game development, marketing, and business strategy. This could lead to more effective targeting and positioning in the market.
- Enhanced Betting Strategies: For players, AI and machine learning models can analyze vast amounts of data to predict game outcomes more accurately. This could lead to more informed betting strategies, although it also raises ethical and regulatory questions.
How I Expect AI to Disrupt the Gambling Industry as an Experienced Gambler Myself
Artificial Intelligence is great for brainstorming and for asking thought-provoking questions.
With that in mind, the list above made me think of the following:
- First, gamblers will look for ways to incorporate AI into their betting strategies. We are always on the lookout for the strategy that will make us rich. AI will become another promising part of our gambling toolkit. I expect it to fade, though, like so many other tools.
- Gambling operators will be much quicker in integrating AI tools into their workflow. I can see bookmakers using AI to profile players more efficiently. This will lead them to spot sharp bettors quicker and limit their betting activity as a way to protect their revenues. It can also identify problem gambling patterns. Yet, I have a hard time believing gambling companies care that much for addicted gamblers. They are out to make money, not save the world.
- I can see AI disrupting the poker industry more than anything in the gambling sector. A likely scenario is that AI can monitor our villains on the felt. Depending on our hole cards and our opponents' tendencies, AI can come up with the best course of action for us as poker players. AI will be infinitely quicker to spot weaknesses and exploit them in real time. The question is whether poker operators will allow such tools. They most likely won't, so we have to ask ourselves if they will be able to track down players using such technology. And to do so, they may incorporate AI themselves!
- AI will certainly take a big role in customer service, like in every other industry. Prepare to chat with an AI assistant much more often in the future.
Does any of that sound as groundbreaking as creating a virtual host on your new podcast, speaking with your own voice in a foreign language, producing a perfectly edited video in minutes that will go viral after picking the best keywords for search on YouTube?
Of course not.
So, here comes the question that every gambler thinks when they hear of AI and ChatGPT for the first time.
Can Artificial Intelligence Predict Betting Odds?
Now we are talking!
- Can AI predict the stock market?
- Can AI predict Bitcoin's price in ten years?
- Can AI estimate better the real chance of the roulette ball landing on a specific number on the wheel?
- Can AI calculate closing betting odds more efficiently?
What we are really asking here is one thing. Whether AI can help make better predictions or not.
In short, gamblers expect AI to be a fortune teller; one of the most lucrative, ancient line of work.
From a gambling guy who studied neural networks in the early 2000s, I can tell you one thing for sure. AI is a buzzword that entails innovation that has been taking place for decades.
The real breakthrough is that AI has become accessible to anyone, mostly for free. Does the internet ring a bell? Expect similar ramifications.
AI will disrupt the gambling industry much like the internet did.
