AI is becoming an increasing force across iGaming – shaping new mechanics, visuals and engagement, but also enabling responsible play, fraud detection, compliance and secure payments.
As personalisation deepens, how can the industry harness AI responsibly and sustainably? iGaming Expert spoke to Oleksii Mylotskyi, Chief Technology Officer at Playson, Bjørnar Heggernes, Chief Commercial Officer at The Mill Adventure, Dr. Andreas Koeberl, Chief Executive Officer at BetGames, and Thomas Smallwood, Chief Commercial Officer at OpenSlots, to gather their thoughts on the hot topic in the first of a two-part special.
iGaming Expert: Where do you see the biggest opportunities for AI-driven personalisation in today’s iGaming landscape?
Thomas Smallwood: As a B2B business, we see the biggest opportunities with operators that are looking to take control of their roadmap through bespoke and branded content, and with smaller studios looking to build on a stable and certified RGS.
By lowering the barriers to entry for any developers and enabling timely, personalised game creation, operators can develop content that speaks directly to their customers’ preferences.
Bjørnar Heggernes: Ensuring that operators have the right toolset to guarantee players are offered something relevant to them is key. AI is not just another keyword that we now need to think about using.
Take our Smartlobbies for example, it is a casino management tool that automatically populates the casino pages in real-time, and we have leveraged AI since 2020 to be able to give personalised game recommendations to players, ensuring that every player has their own unique casino experience.
It is not revolutionary but merely an adoption; the world has been watching Netflix for two decades now and listening to personal playlists via Spotify even longer. It is only natural that people now get personal recommendations based on their player preferences.
The added benefit of Smartlobbies, is removing the manual work of updating casino pages to accommodate dozens of new games every single day, while also removing the decision-making process of what we believe is relevant in every market or country.
No BI analyst providing reports, no commercial decision maker trying to be clever, no casino executive ordering games – simply one person ensuring the games work before they go live, the casino management tool ensures the games appear in every single category and player it is relevant for.
In a nutshell, personalisation in our landscape will deliver on customer satisfaction and stickiness, whilst empowering the operators to do more, with less.
Dr. Andreas Koeberl: The low-hanging fruit has been in the backend for years: live bonusing, player segmentation, and personalised lobbies.
The bigger opportunities come when we start rethinking existing business models. The moonshots. From vibe-coding games to removing the need for operators or game studios altogether. This is where we can think big.
Realistically, I believe content is overdue for disruption, not by producing it faster or slashing revenue shares even more, but by shifting the entire model toward content generation platforms. That’s what will unlock new creative possibilities and potentially new types of games.
A good example is Google’s early results with its new world model, Genie 3. This is the most disruptive technology of the decade, and most likely beyond.
So, we should be thinking in more radical terms. I don’t see the value in using this tech just to crank out 300 slots a year instead of 30.
Oleksii Mylotskyi: At Playson, players are at the heart of everything we create. For six consecutive months, we have been ranked the number one provider in Europe. That comes from being product-obsessed.
But what truly matters is that players consistently choose our games. Both our established hits and new releases reach top charts shortly after launch, reflecting our product-driven focus.
AI now allows us to amplify that success in the following opportunities: to craft more immersive journeys, meaning tailoring mechanics, bonus paths and volatility per cohort; to deliver diverse themes and fresh experiences; and, crucially, it enables responsible play enhancements – anonymised identifiers can flag behavioural risks early and adjust offers or limits in real time.
At the moment, AI still remains an enhancement tool to existing frameworks, helping us create value for our partners and players alike.
iGX: How can companies across the industry collaborate to ensure AI-enhanced personalisation complies with evolving regulations across different jurisdictions?
BH: Today, it often feels like the industry combats poor or unclear regulation with innovation and creativity. In many ways, that is how collaboration happens, through early recognition and adoption of responsible practices introduced by pioneers, which others then follow and refine.
The iGaming sector is exceptionally good at adapting, and protecting players remains one of the core pillars of any regulation.
Leveraging AI-enhanced personalisation is not just about offering relevant content or targeted offers, but about understanding player behaviour in a way that allows us to design ethical and compliant systems.
By sharing best practices, common frameworks and insights into player protection models, companies can help regulators understand where AI adds value, and how it can be applied responsibly.
It is about using AI not to generalise risk, but to identify and protect the right players, ensuring everyone can play in a safe and trusted environment.
AK: Regulators are usually slow to adapt. How they respond will depend on how we use AI. If we’re just generating code or assets, it’s not much different from what we’re already doing. The pace may become an issue simply because regulators aren’t set up yet to absorb high volumes, as most of them are chronically understaffed; one could argue: a perfect case for AI.
The tricky things are new business models, new game types and gameplay mechanics forging entirely new markets. That will certainly require closer collaboration with regulators. What matters most is that we don’t use regulation as an excuse.
OM: AI-enhanced personalisation can only thrive responsibly through shared accountability across the industry.
At Playson, we believe collaboration starts with transparency and interoperability – providers must design AI systems that are explainable, auditable and adaptable to regional regulations. Some of the AI-built tools are already integrated into our infrastructure and perform well. Now we have to develop that further based on business needs.
Operators, in turn, must deploy such systems responsibly, ensuring alignment with player protection standards. It would also be important to maintain constant dialogue between a provider and an operator on such a system’s operation, so that feedback ensures constant improvement. The iGaming industry is evolving, and AI must follow suit.
Regulators should define clear, flexible frameworks to guide innovation without stifling it. The industry’s focus must be on ensuring AI helps while remaining compliant and centered on player well-being across all jurisdictions.
TS: Industry-wide collaboration starts with establishing a clear dialogue. We need to develop comprehensive codes of practice, potentially including vendor certification programs, to ensure consistent standards across the sector.
Additionally, independent assessments examining how personalisation impacts data protection requirements would provide valuable guidance. The goal should be to create unified frameworks that all industry participants can adopt, ensuring compliance while fostering innovation in different regulatory environments
