Why gamblers embracing AI is cause for concern

You’d be more comfortable placing a bet on Newcastle United’s Bruno Grimaraes to get a yellow card knowing the same fixture had drawn that outcome 5 times consecutively prior to the game, for instance. You can even ask for the percentage on certain events occurring.

‘AI has made it easier than ever before to offer consumers the kind of data and analysis that used to be the province of pros,’ says Scotty McKeever, the owner of bookies site EquinEdge which offers AI as a core service.

As more of these crystal ball applications pop up by the week, there doesn’t seem to be any thought as to how AI tools could deepen addictions, though. The betting sites won’t care, obviously, but we should recognise an opportunist profit grab when we see one.

Arguably the most alarming aspect of AI’s involvement here is a growing focus on personalised betting experiences.

Based on a user’s ‘betting style’ and app history, programs like BetBuddy and Betby can actively recommend potential bets with no user input. In an instant, someone who wasn’t previously engaged is now thinking about betting.

Ultimately, it feels like the recreational nature of betting is shifting towards a call to action from brokers, and that’s a dangerous precedent to allow.

It’s an inevitability that people with no prior knowledge of a sport will now be placing wagers and losing money that they otherwise wouldn’t have, thanks to the allure of so-called easy profit.

The ethics of gambling were already dubious at best, but attracting new punters through the all knowing guise of emerging tech – that most of us don’t really know all too much about – feels like a new low.