AI in casino games: A whole new world waiting to be dealt

AI is in pretty much everyone’s conversations right now, with people using it (successfully and unsuccessfully) for a vast range of different things. Let’s face it: we’ve got stars in our eyes when it comes to AI right now – but what’s it doing to one of the vast industries on our planet, the casino industry? How is it shaking up games from the core? Let’s find out!

Many games are being totally revolutionised by AI stepping onto the scene, so let’s get into the nitty-gritty of which games are changing, what’s happening, and how AI is leaving its footprint on this world of online casino games!

First up: personalisation. AI really shines when it comes to personalising the slots, because an AI can analyse each player’s individual behaviour and start tailoring what the game shows to match. Imagine you’re playing at your favourite slot, and you get a bunch of free spins come up – but none of them are quite what you wanted and they’re just not doing it for you today. We all know that feeling of disappointment… and honestly, it gets directed at the company, because why don’t they know you better than that? Isn’t marketing meant to be good these days?

Well, AI is changing all that and cutting the frustration that comes with it! It is capable of tracking what bonuses you use and what games you play (and even when and how you play them), and that means that suddenly, casinos can offer much more tailored options when you’re playing on the slots. Free spins for your favourite game ever, just as you sit down to relax on a Friday night? Yes, that’s much more likely now! 

Personalised bonus games? These are also creeping onto the scene, along with game features that are specifically honed to tick your “like” box and give you the best possible gaming experience. And it’s only because of AI that this is becoming possible – sure, casinos tried to offer this kind of personalisation in the past, but it was simply too much for humans to manage.

Of course, you must have been playing the slots for a while for this to work; the AI is dependent on having historical data of how you play and when you play to bring up these offers. The longer you’ve been playing and the more consistent your patterns are, the better the AI will be able to come up with offers that are perfect for you. As this system improves, maybe we’ll see slots that are completely unique for each individual – it could happen! And as AI becomes increasingly accepted and legislation is put into place for it, we’re going to see more and more innovation in this space.

How do you teach a computer to bluff? We’re not going to pretend it’s easy; it’s proven a major challenge for those building AIs, getting a computer to mimic a human’s ability to deceive other players. However, we’re pretty much there, and AIs can now be incorporated into the online world of poker – one of the most popular casino games on the planet.

So, first off, they have created an AI that’s good at poker; there’s been major progress in advancing how the absolute best AI can play, and it’s doing well. However, that’s not actually enough for casinos: they don’t want an AI that can beat human players every time, because who would ever play against that? They need an AI that can understand nuance, make mistakes occasionally, and lose – but in convincing ways that are still satisfying to play against. Now that’s a real challenge!

But if they’re successful, there’s going to be big rewards: some people would much rather play against a computer than other humans, provided the computer makes a satisfying opponent. This is likely to be an ongoing process as the AIs master how to play in each context, but it already looks promising to us! Of course, there are wary about teaching computers how to lie effectively… after all, sci-fi books and films have shown us exactly why that could be a bad idea. For the casino industry, though, it’s looking tantalising. 

AI isn’t “big” in most casino games yet, because it hasn’t had time to infiltrate them… but we’re likely to see it edging in from the fringes and changing more and more things about how we play and enjoy games online as the years come. It’s overly exciting to imagine how it might revolutionise classic games like poker, blackjack, roulette, the slots, and more. However, we’re just going to have to “wait and see” here, because AI is only just unfolding its metaphorical wings and starting to flap.