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Why gamblers embracing AI is cause for concern

The perception that AI can eliminate risk and replace luck with foolproof strategy is concerning. Will this lead to more newcomers getting hooked and larger sums being lost?

The over normalisation of betting is increasingly becoming a problem and the industry’s latest ‘coup’ has the potential to open an ever larger can of worms.

While having a bet on a sporting event once required a visit to the local bookies, a litany of instant phone apps like Bet365 have allowed folk to gamble money instantly for years now, and there are live odds on almost everything.

As someone who draws the line at Fantasy Football, you can’t help but notice the insane amount of betting sponsorships popping up on broadcast hoardings, TV ads, and players’ kits throughout a weekend of Premier League football. You almost feel like the weird one for abstaining.

Accessibility and convenience haven’t been barriers to gambling for what feels like an age, but the action of placing a bet has now become even further removed from reality with the introduction of AI – yes, it’s coming for every industry.

If you think about it, the shift was all but inevitable. In a game of chance, the technology has the ability to turn hopeful spectators into strategic players where odds are redefined by data. Go on, place that bet, you’re making an informed decision.

My facetious tone aside, the ability of AI to crunch huge datasets and discern patterns at speeds beyond human comprehension is undeniably a useful tool in the realm of gambling.

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.

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