Unless you have been living under a rock in recent years, you couldn’t fail to overlook how Artificial Intelligence (AI) is quietly transforming the way we live, work and travel and play. Maybe that’s not so true.
The emphasis is on "quietly transforming", working its magic in the background analysing big data and seamlessly undertaking labor-intensive tasks that once took hundreds of man-hours to perform. Ai is here to stay, and this new disruptive technology is already firmly embedded in several high profile industries. From retail to banking and finance, travel to real estate, machine learning technology is shaking things up and shaping our lives.
AI Shaping and Improving User Experience
It should come as no surprise the online casino industry is also exploring ways to adopt AI. The gambling industry, after all, has been at the forefront of new technology and innovation since the early 90s. There’s no doubt that online casino is an expanding business, especially in the current COVID-19 lockdown era. One that is not likely to slow down anytime soon with more people working from home enjoying easy access to casino games direct from a phone browser. Several big-brand casinos are now using Artificial Intelligence to analyze game performance and assess customer behaviour to shape a better user experience. Platform security and customer service chatbots are other areas where AI has an increasingly significant role to play.
The Ultimate Disruptive Technology
AI is a disruptive technology, meaning that it surpasses old technology and replaces it with new and far superior systems. Consider the recent changes brought about by the iPhone, the blockchain, and even the Internet itself. Like every tremendous disruptive technology, it doesn’t merely change our lives; it opens the door to new opportunities. In its entirety, the casino industry is currently exploring ways to incorporate AI into its business practices to improve efficiency and profits. Since established companies, especially in the gambling industry, tend to be risk-averse, investing in AI systems early on is an intuitive way to gain an advantage over the competition and create barriers to new entrants. The only problem is, disruptive technologies tend to be, well, disruptive by nature.
For every big-brand casino looking at ways to use AI to maintain their market position, you can bet your grandmother’s piggybank a thousand upstarts are currently seeking innovative ways to usurp the establishment. Some of them are planning strategies to launch casinos supported entirely by AI in every aspect of their operation. From personalised casino rewards to bespoke wagering requirements, every online casino operation element uses Artificial Intelligence to gain a rapid advantage. Could the rollout of AI across the industry lead to a seismic shakeup of the established order? If past consequences of evolutionary change brought about by new disruptive technologies are anything to go by, it certainly seems likely.
The Trickle-Down Effect
Implementation of new technology typically starts at the top and trickles down the chain of suppliers, third-party providers, and associated industries. What’s particularly interesting in the case of AI adoption within the online casino industry is the speed at which some companies in tertiary sectors associated with online casino operations are already planning and incorporating AI science. Most surprisingly, some instances of this have been observed within the area of casino affiliate marketers.
Online casino affiliates play an integral part in a casino’s marketing efforts. Without them, online casino operators would incur high player acquisition costs through advertising, especially given the fierce competition which exists in this sector. Using casino affiliates is a zero-risk proposition for online casinos since they only pay commission on new referrals supplied by an affiliate marketer. This will generally be a flat fee, sometimes tiered depending on how many new players they refer, or awarded a percentage of the profits converted. Suffice it to say, redirecting real money players to online casinos, sports betting sites and poker rooms can be a very lucrative business for those with exceptional expertise in attracting new customers.
Like the gambling industry, the online casino affiliate marketing sector is a very competitive one, dominated by several large established websites. Websites such as the Pogg, askgamblers.com, casino.org and casino.guru have been around a while, steadfastly rooted on the first page of almost any casino-related search results page. If any industry was due for an overhaul, it’s this one. Many of the distinguished leading authorities have implemented little technical innovation in promoting the online casinos they represent. Many still use the same time-honored methods of writing a casino review and logging player comments and experiences, which can be subjective at best.
The Established Order is Under Threat
Companies that fail to innovate through future technologies such as AI run the risk of losing their market position to younger, hungrier, and more technically talented upstarts. One such example is gamblescope.com, a casino, sports betting and poker review website launched in 2017. "Look" comments company CEO Anton Za, "it’s not enough anymore to simply write a publisher or user opinion piece about a gambling platform and expect real money players to deposit cash on hearsay. With so many new gambling websites released almost daily worldwide, players want a fast, accurate, reliable and scientific way to find the best options per their precise requirements."
"From day one, our gambling review website has been engineered to meet this need. When you conduct a casino search on our site, it is not smart to offer a list of casinos that may not be available to players in their country just because they pay the best commissions. We automatically filter only casinos a player can join. We look at incorporating advanced technology to improve every aspect of the user experience. In 2021, we plan to roll out our one-click, join any casino feature using Artificial Intelligence to improve the process and functionality."
AI Will Soon Disrupt Everything
The online gambling sector is only one example of how advanced AI computing will eventually disrupt all existing industries. Some will resist AI in the belief that the way ahead is to keep things simple and human. There’s an argument for that, too, when seen from the point of view of the growing use of chatbots. Artificial Intelligence, however, goes far beyond that which interfaces with the end-user. How long before AI builds more sophisticated AI systems? This is only the first step, and companies slow to respond run the risk of making a "Blockbuster" size error that might see the quickly replaced by technically astute and agile companies like Gamblescope.com.