How Will AI Impact the Global iGaming Market

Posted by Harry Kane on Tuesday, July 19, 2022

The global iGaming industry remains one of the biggest and fastest-growing industries anywhere in the world, thanks largely to continued expansion (and the scope for future exponential growth) in the North American marketplace. In fact, the global market is projected to reach $100 billion by 2026, with further growth anticipated in the longer term.

The market for artificial intelligence (AI) is also fast growing and highly generative, with recent forecasts suggesting that it will showcase robust growth through the next seven years. By 2030, it’s estimated that this market will be worth nearly $2 trillion, as the technology continues to grow and impact a larger number of potential applications.

Interestingly, iGaming will be one such application for AI, especially as online gambling continues to evolve and claim a higher share of the wider gambling industry. But how exactly will AI impact the iGaming marketplace, and what will this mean for players and operators alike?

#1. Introducing Improved Customer Experience

Perhaps the single biggest and best-known application of AI is chatbots, which provide intuitive customer service and help brands to resolve generic queries in real-time. Along with virtual assistants, they deliver seamless, entry-level customer support that can manage queries in volume, without overly extending your human representatives.

In addition to being accessible and highly intuitive, AI-powered chatbots are far easier to train and update than human employees. Such processes are also more cost-effective when dealing with AI applications, as they tend to benefit from superior information retention and are more reliable than human memory.

Going forward, AI will play an increasingly seminal role in cultivating a safe and immersive customer experience, particularly in light of the recent government white paper on online gambling. Among other things, this document proposed the introduction of targeted affordability checks, which will take variable forms depending on each player’s level of activity.

To successfully implement such measures, operators will need to successfully analyse player preferences and playing frequencies in real-time. This is a key skillset that’s boasted by AI, and one that can deliver accurate insights into playing activity while also helping to curate the most popular and appealing games for individual gamblers.

With these points in mind, AI can enhance the typical iGaming customer experience in a number of different ways. Whether operators want to provide the

most immersive gameplay experience possible or safeguard players and carry out extensive affordability checks, AI is well-placed to deliver on multiple fronts.

#2. The Rise of Peer-to-Peer Gambling Platforms

We also live in the age of exponential blockchain and cryptocurrency growth, which has already been linked with the development of decentralised, peer-to-peer iGaming websites. This has the potential to minimise the house edge boasted by operators and contributes to far greater transparency, while enabling players to compete directly against one another.

AI may also prove helpful in this respect, once again through the collation and analysis of specific player datasets (such as their preferred verticals, average spend and perceived skill level). By successfully analysing such information in real-time, AI can match players responsibly with like-minded gamblers, creating a more immersive experience without forcing participants to wager outside of their means.

Remember, the key here is to create a friendly and enjoyable sense of competition, between players who share similar preferences and levels of risk tolerance. So, high-stakes players who have undergone affordability checks can safely engage in big spending games against one another, while casual gamblers can also face off while wagering considerably smaller amounts of money.

Ultimately, peer-to-peer iGaming platforms represent the future of the online gambling industry, with advanced technologies such as AI and blockchain central to this. In the case of AI, this will help to match suitable players in direct competition, ensuring a fair, transparent and level field that also allows for optimal levels of enjoyment.

#3. Celebrate More Intuitive and Eye-Catching Game Design

As the concept of peer-to-peer gambling becomes increasingly prevalent, AI is emerging as a key tool in the design and development of new games (and verticals). It can even be applied retrospectively to existing titles, with verticals such as online slots regularly updated to incorporate new technology and targeted upgrades.

But how exactly does AI game design? Well, it’s able to gather and analyse huge swathes of player feedback and information, highlighting specific areas for targeted improvement over time. What’s more, a wider range of optional gameplay features can be developed according to individual player preferences, in order to create a more personalised iGaming experience overall.

From a much broader perspective, the rise of AI is also driving the process of democratisation within the sphere of game design and development. With AI, the entire process of conceiving and developing games is set to become more open and accessible, thanks largely to the deployment of a much simpler method of coding.

Through this evolution, a much wider number of software houses will be able to earn licenses and create games for the iGaming space (regardless of their level of experience). This means that they’ll be able to compete more aggressively with existing market leaders such as Microgaming, NetEnt and Play’n GO, increasing the number of high-quality games available in the process.

#4. Ushering in the Age of Enhanced Security

On a final note, it’s important to recognise the role that AI will play in create a more secure iGaming market in the future. After all, even reputable online gambling sites are vulnerable

to the threat of cyber and malware attacks, despite the widespread deployment of industry standard 128-bit SSL encryption throughout the sector.

The good news is that AI is synonymous with more robust and powerful security measures, particularly those that incorporate behavioural biometrics and facial recognition. Such measures are designed to prevent fraudulent activity and identify suspicious login attempts, and are particularly effective when combined with two or multi-factor authentication methods.

By also identifying such threats in real-time, AI enables operators to take immediate action and effectively safeguard their customers’ data. At the same time, players can register and wager with far greater peace of mind than they otherwise would, potentially increasing their average spend and the amount they wager on a daily basis.