Mindway AI, whose GameScanner solution identifies players exhibiting at-risk gambling behavior, now aims to resolve an even bigger issue: scientifically determining how operators can best help those customers.
“How do you change somebody’s behavior?” said Will Mace, a longtime Responsible Gaming proponent who joined Mindway AI in June as Head of Strategic Programmes. “How do you interact with the player to reduce their level of risk and embed sustainable, healthy playing habits?”
Mindway AI, said Mace, will lead the project to research effective player interactions and “write the book” on when and how operators should intervene with players showing risky gambling patterns. He previously was group player safety director at evoke plc, which owns and operates international gaming brands including William Hill, William Hill Vegas, and 888casino. He also has held positions with Kindred Group, GamProtect, the Armed Forces Gambling Support Network in England, and the UK Gambling Commission Financial Risk Working Group.
Mindway AI’s GameScanner, licensed in more than 70 jurisdictions around the world, reviews actions of almost 16 million gamblers a month, primarily those playing online. Mace said evoke plc began using GameScanner during his time there and found it effective at identifying individuals showing at-risk betting patterns. Those include off-hour or extended playing sessions, chasing losses, and impulsive transactions.
However, evoke and other operators realized they lacked the expertise to help players alter their behavior. “(Operators) are not behavioral psychologists, and it was very clear that we had this gap,” Mace said.
Mindway AI said existing research on operator-player RG interaction is “sparse” and few competitive market solutions exist. The project Mace leads will take a “first principles” approach, including an examination of the various reasons people gamble and how those might indicate ways to nudge at-risk players toward safer behavior. Researchers then will measure the success of various types of interaction with those behavioral patterns. The project will cover multiple jurisdictions, including online and land-based casinos and sportsbooks in Europe and North America.
Mace said the group is close to finishing the technological blueprint of the study but is unable to set a formal timeline, noting the complexity of the issue and the impact of cultural and regulatory differences.
“An operator’s got to have a whole suite of interactions that apply at high-risk levels, low-risk levels, from elderly female bingo players to young male sports bettors,” he said. “How do you speak to those people in different ways, at different times, at different risk levels, showing different behaviors (and do so) in a way that actually works for that individual?”
Mace said a generic Responsible Gambling email sent to thousands of players in an operator’s database is an example of an interaction unlikely to change an individual’s behavior. “On the flip side, the more personalized the message, however it’s presented, the better. If we can talk about what you did yesterday and why that’s different from your norm, that’s more likely to make you stop and think. Or so the hypothesis goes – but not always and not for everybody.”
Mace said Mindway AI is eager to involve regulators in the research and findings of which interactions are proven to be effective.
Many jurisdictions require generic RG messages, and “operators obviously have to tick the regulatory boxes,” he said. “But increasingly they want to go further than that and actually do something that’s effective and meaningful. What is effective? What is meaningful? That is really what we’re beginning to explore.”
