Artificial intelligence affects almost every aspect of contemporary life, and the gaming industry is not immune. AI has become essential to technologists and front-of-the house workers in gaming.
Sierra Weyer, Director of Enterprise Analytics at Sycuan Casino Resort, acknowledges that AI is a buzzword in the gaming industry. Behind the scenes AI is omnipresent, assisting facets including player personalization, fraud detection, and predictive analytics.
But there’s also a fear that AI will disrupt, if not replace, the human element at casinos. Andrew Cardno, Quick Custom Intelligence Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, says that robots are inevitable.
“They’re walking, they’re talking, they’re engaging,” Cardno says of robots during a recent CDC Roundtable on technology. “They’ve got hands. They can do things. They can take on human jobs.
“And I’ve long heard people speculate if they are going to look like people. And I think the answer is actually profoundly simple. We humans have designed the entire world that we work in to function for what we look like. So, if you want to build a useful robot, okay, sure, you can make one that vacuums floors. It’s a little round disc. But if you make one that looks like a human, it literally can do anything humans can do.”
Weyer thinks fears that AI is going to dominate any industry, let alone gaming, are unfounded.
“Everyone’s kind of more adept at using ChatGBT and Copilot and other things and have really found a way to embrace it in their own way, whether it’s writing emails a little bit more clearly or polished, or helping create agents in order to automate some of their tasks,” Weyer said. “I think now we’re starting to realize that AI plus humans is where the real magic is, and then really starting to explore more on how we can really create more of an ROI from that perspective, can we play with it more to understand player behavior even better and at a deeper level.”
Robert Kraft, Founder and CEO of Atlas World Sports, a sports‑tech platform that aggregates odds, insights, and betting information across major sportsbooks, says that technology is not only inevitable, but essential for any company in the gaming industry. Kraft worked in marketing communications and finance before entering the gaming space.
The gaming industry’s increased adoption of technology is one reason he entered the space. He cites Moore’s Law – the number of transistors on a microchip doubles roughly every two years, leading to steady increases in computing power and decreases in cost over time – as applicable to the advance of technology in gaming.
“If folks (in gaming) aren’t into the tech space, they’re just going to lose market share, and they’re going to have a hard time playing,” Kraft says. “They’re either going to get acquired or they’re just closing up. The wave is just going to go past them.
“But those that are in the tech side of it and leading it, there’s a lot of bounty to be enjoyed for all. There’s a lot of blue water there for all. Otherwise, it’s red, choppy water for non-tech, the ones that are going old school.”
Advances in tech are emerging as the gaming industry is undergoing change. No longer is it enough to offer slot machines and table games.
“People are looking for entertainment experiences,” Cardno says. “They’re looking for moments. What they’re looking for are experiences, and what is happening in gaming is it has diversified into an experience built around gaming.
“It’s a huge change, and it’s kind of crept up on us in a funny way. We all look around and people ask me where is the industry going, why is the industry growing? It’s actually so interesting. We’ve become these entertainment metropolises, and people love to go there and get experiences.”
Weyer agrees with Cardno that robotics are going to be more prominent across the gaming landscape. But she thinks the main advancement this year will be the expansion of digital tech.
“I think the way that we’re marketing using digital is only going to expand,” Weyer said. “Influencers are a really good example. We’re starting to raise that more now versus five years ago. Even for us here a few years ago, it was like a no-no for cameras. We didn’t want anyone to film any games. But now we’re seeing that we can monetize that, and that’s really good brand marketing.”
Kraft says the trend more toward more digital content is inevitable, and he thinks lessons can be learned from his experience with brick-and-mortar retailers. Years ago, he touted online shopping to a few big box retailers who demurred, insisting they needed traffic in stores. CEOs insisted online shopping was only a small percentage of sales.
Kraft told big box CEOs that the way to generate foot traffic is to allow people to make their own choices. He feels the same is true in gaming, and operators are cognizant of that.
“Look, what do we care if they’re literally sitting at the blackjack table here or they’re on their couch because they’re two states away,” Kraft says. “The point being is they can build up comps for users even though they are sitting on their couch betting on this weekend’s NFL games. And when they’re ready for a weekend, they are absolutely going to Sierra’s casino rather than anywhere else because they’ve been building up comps, rather than at anywhere else. They (the casinos) can throw some comps at them and make them feel like kings and queens.”
