Conducted in collaboration with the global research platform Toluna Insights, the Playtech online study surveyed more than 2,000 people in four Latin American countries — Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia — with the main objective of understanding the opinions and concerns of the population of region.
In Brazil, 76% of respondents answered positively when asked whether betting companies should use AI to detect risky players. When asked why they felt this way, 51% said that as long as data privacy is protected, it would ensure that players are kept safe, while 25% said that preventing game issues is more important than protecting private data.
When it comes to gambling and addiction issues, Brazilians are cautious. Two-thirds of Brazilians consider borrowing money to play games (64%) as the behavioral trait they find most concerning among gamblers. The second and third most popular responses, at 58% and 57% respectively, were behavioral traits of borrowing money to gamble and paying debts and lying to family. Meanwhile, 20% fear losing all their money while gambling online or becoming addicted to gambling, highlighting the importance of protection mechanisms and responsible gambling tools.
"Responsible gaming is one of the pillars of our company," said Francesco Rodano, policy director at Playtech. “Not only do we work tirelessly to prevent gambling problems from arising, we also work incredibly hard to identify potentially at-risk customers and deliver them with tailored safer gaming interventions. This two-pronged approach to early detection and prevention is greatly reinforced by the use of AI, which analyzes player data anonymously and provides valuable insights based on various types of player behaviors."
Playtech's analytics arm, BetBuddy, employs an experienced and passionate team of researchers, data scientists and engineers focused solely on developing class-leading GR solutions. Industry-leading software can classify player risk using anonymized data and machine learning, while recognizing that all players are different.
BetBuddy's explainable AI module provides a list of over 70 individual risk markers for each player identified as at risk, allowing for personalized and more effective intervention. For example, BetBuddy looks at everything from the number of payment types used in the last three months to deposit amount variation, uptime and more.
The only gaming solutions provider to have surveys accepted at the world's top AI conferences, BetBuddy is currently working with 10 major gaming companies worldwide. It has also appeared in over 60 peer-reviewed articles and conference presentations, focusing on gaming harm, safer product design, Artificial Intelligence and Explained Artificial Intelligence, and customer interactions using large real-world data sets.
In this context, it is not surprising, then, that only 9% of Brazilians disagree with the use of AI technology saying that they would be concerned about the potential for such information to be used against them by their government, work or family.
Elsewhere in the study, it was found that among the measures that betting companies can take to promote responsible gambling, Brazilians believe that sites should provide clear information to users about the risk inherent in gambling (61%), should show clear information about money and time spent on betting to gamblers (56%), and — crucially — should analyze gamblers' behavior to detect if they are at risk of becoming problematic (54%). Only 13% of respondents said that companies do not need to do anything about it, as it is not their responsibility.
"Our technology not only protects players from developing problems, it also protects their data and privacy, which our research has proven to be a concern for Brazilians," added Rodano. "BetBuddy has been developing class-leading RG solutions for over 10 years. Our customers and their customers can be assured that the data collected is used solely for its primary purpose - to detect and prevent gaming issues," he added.
The regulation of online betting, as is the case in Brazil, not only strengthens player protection mechanisms, but also helps protect the state and the gaming industry, as well as player privacy and data. Playtech partners with and invests in top brands in regulated and newly regulated markets to deliver its data-driven gaming technology across the entire online retail and value chain.
Source: GMB
