“AI has emerged as an absolute game changer toward responsible gambling”
We had the opportunity to speak with Stephen Aupy, Business Development Manager at Mindway AI. With his extensive background in the global Responsible Gambling sector, Stephen shares his insights on Mindway AI’s mission, the transformative potential of AI in responsible gambling, and his journey from Gamban to Mindway AI.
You started working at Mindway AI a year ago. What are your feelings about the company’s activities and its mission?
I have now been with Mindway AI for slightly over a year and what a learned journey it has been. I can confidently say that it’s been an enriching and enlightening adventure with the Great Danes. Having 6 years experience in the global Responsible Gambling sector surrounding technological safeguards, transitioning to a company at the forefront of AI and machine learning has been significant and really exciting in the RG world.
Mindway AI’s mission is promoting industry sustainability through the early detection of problematic customer behaviours and the implementation of impactful and effective monitoring and interventions. We are dedicated to fostering positive human gambling behaviours, preventing the mass majority of the customer database from beginning a harmful relationship with remote gambling. Mindway AI’s mission resonates with me as Gamban was all about helping people that have already experienced harm from gambling, so understanding what that looks like, I like that Mindway is about preventing those harms from manifesting by detecting them at a very early and critical time.
Your previous role at Gamban was also in a similar field. What made you decide to get involved in this area?
That is correct, my journey with Gamban was such an interesting and fulfilling experience, I played a pivotal role in helping transform Gamban from being a startup into a globally recognized technological safeguard to supplement and enhance self-exclusion. Having spent around 5 years with the Gamban team it was time for a new challenge.
Transitioning to Mindway AI felt like a natural progression. Both GameScanner and Gamalyze act as technological safeguards for the global industry much like Gamban so I knew my network would allow me to be able to add value in this field. I am also personally into sci-fi and tech amongst the Internet of Things and was naturally curious about AI having watched films like Ex Machina.
Whilst both companies are involved in the Responsible Gambling space, the roles and objectives are slightly different. I now find myself wearing a different hat, at Gamban our mission was on helping people abstain from gambling after experiencing gambling related harm through self-exclusion, whilst the mission with Mindway AI, is centred toward helping prevent people from reaching the point of significant financial loss and gambling related harm or having to self-exclude.
Do you think that the use of AI and neuroscience-based solutions can be a breakthrough in the context of responsible gambling?
AI has emerged as an absolute game changer toward responsible gambling, revolutionising the ways players can be protected and ensuring a safe and responsible gaming environment. AI and machine learning has existed for many years but it has recently moved to the forefront of our industry inline with the rise of mainstream applications such as ChatGPT.
We distinguish ourselves by training our algorithm on the principles of neuroscience, cognitive science and psychology which has resulted in a uniquely scientific approach. The integration of ai with neuroscience allows us to drill down deeper into player behaviours, beyond financial thresholds to really see what those behaviours look like granuarly. From our experience and with ongoing conversations with various gambling regulators, we believe that our comprehensive approach represents a breakthrough in responsible gambling by offering pyschological assessments of the customer database.
How do you assess operators’ awareness of using new technology to ensure responsible gambling?
As we work as a B2B supplier in the global responsible gambling space, we have developed a keen understanding of operator awareness and adoption of new technologies through a multifaceted approach. By frequently attending global industry events, we gain valuable insight into which operators are genuinely attuned to the latest innovations and technological safeguards in responsible gambling.
When we begin working with an operator, our initial evaluation involves an assessment of their current processes, this helps us identify key areas where our solutions can be most impactful. By thoroughly understanding an operators existing practices, we can tailor our monitoring system to address their specific needs.
Our partnerships with gambling operators also enable us to leverage our data analytics to monitor and evaluate how operators implement and interact with our solution, this also provides us with a clear picture of their proficiency.
It’s also wise to note that whilst we can assess an operator’s awareness of new tech, we are also able to foster an environment of innovation led by the industry itself. A lot of the frequent enhancements or additional functionality that we build does tend to come from operator partnerships, where the operator will find a new use case for Gamescanner and we will then decide to build this to be included on future iterations of Gamescanner, if that makes sense?
Are there any countries that, in your opinion, are leading in advanced technological tools for ensuring responsible gaming? Or should we point to specific groups or operators?
Most definitely, from my experience in our industry we often tend to see significant innovation hail from Europe compared to the rest of the world. I believe the UK is potentially the front runner in terms of technological safeguards, this could be down to the UK having woven remote gambling into society for the longest period and there having been more issues surrounding gambling addiction in comparison to other marketplaces which does create an environment for innovation.
The UK has created perhaps one of the best approaches to reduce gambling related harm from a national standpoint which is called the layered approach. This encompasses a self-exclusion scheme that blocks play from all licensed operators, tethered to evaluated gambling blocking software to protect the individual from unlicensed sites, as well as a national gambling helpline which offers cognitive therapy and other forms of treatment, is the best approach for protecting consumers and preventing further loss of revenue to black market sites.
This approach was first trialed in the UK in 2020 with GAMSTOP, GAMBAN & GAMCARE and has since extended toward the Norwegian and US Ohio marketplaces. This is a recognition of the need for a layered approach to reducing gambling harm and the collaboration required for effective treatment and harm reduction.
Could you tell us more about Mindway AI’s flagship product – GameScanner?
Of course, so the biggest application of artificial intelligence in our industry is centered toward responsible gambling. At Mindway AI, we are a company that helps operators further understand their customer base through a unique approach in the detection of problematic behaviours. We are the only company in the global industry that offers a full psychological assessment of the entire customer database. The topic of Self Exclusion from my time at Gamban is now contradictory to what we aim to achieve, which is industry sustainability, preventing people from reaching the point of significant loss through early detection and impactful intervention.
Our algorithm is trained on the principles of cognitive science, neuroscience and psychology as well as the decision making and risk assessment of expert psychologists that work in the treatment space. Given that we take such a granular level of data we really help operators understand their customers online activities from a behavioural perspective.
We have piqued regulatory interest across Europe and the US and have been involved in conversations that acknowledge how we can prevent a large portion of the customer database from starting a harmful journey toward self-exclusion, moving a problematic customer dataset into a more sustainable space.
How can Gamalyze help players with responsible gaming?
Gamalyze is firstly a gamified reinvention of the self-help questionnaire which was previously based off the problem gambling severity index PGSI poll. We deem the approach of detection based around PGSI polling as ineffective or inaccurate because any person struggling with addiction is not likely to answer any personal questions about their addiction truthfully. This is why we created a gamified reinvention of the self-help questionnaire, the player must flip 80 cards over four decks to win a higher value and must play to win, our algorithm will assess their behaviours whilst they play and then give a risk assessment following their play.
Gamalyze has been adopted as a screening solution which enables people to see how risky their playing behaviours are like, through both online and retail gambling operator channels but more importantly in the treatment space in various markets such as the Netherlands through Hands 24×7 with Loket Kanspel, equally in the US we are the first RG tech partner of the NCPG National Council of Problem Gambling in the US that have embedded Gamalyze into their flagship ResponsiblePlay.org flagship website that allows any US citizens to take the self-assessment solution at no cost.
How do you see the future (say the next 3 years) in terms of progress in using new technologies in the area of responsible gaming? Do you think the industry is heading in the right direction and at the right pace?
As of today, we are currently find ourselves in the early stages of a very exciting era, reminiscent of the Wild West, as we watch the intersection of AI and machine learning with responsible gambling. Looking ahead to 2026, the implementation of the EU AI Act, will bring significant legislative oversight across multiple industries including our own.
AI’s most significant impact in our sector is without question in the areas of responsible gambling. It’s becoming increasingly clear that ai will continue to grow and innovate in this space, fundamentally changing the ways we interact with individuals both personally and autonomously. While ai and machine learning have been around for over a decade, it was the advent of mainstream AI applications like ChatGPT that truly captured the industry’s attention.
Today we are experiencing a surge of interest from regulators eager to harness the power of AI and machine learning vastly across the entire marketplace which is very interesting. There is now a growing trend with more mature markets such as the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain which have established robust regulatory frameworks with specific threshold requirements designed to protect players. This trend is gaining momentum across Europe, US, and Latin America.
AI and machine learning has existed for over 10 years now, but the mainstream industry has only become interested since they discovered ChatGPT a few years ago. We are now seeing more regulators become interested in learning how to harness the power of ai and machine learning vastly across the entire marketplace which is very interesting. There is now a growing trend with more mature markets such as the UK, Germany, Netherlands and Spain that have really set their own regulatory requirements surrounding specific threshold to be put in place to protect their players. We are now seeing this continue to grow in Europe, US and Latam.
As we look toward the future, its clear that the landscape will evolve dramatically over the next three years, The pace of the technology and innovation and technological advancement is accelerating, promising a world where RG is driven by sophisticated AI tools. The industry is moving in the right direction, my only consideration or critique is that ai monitoring systems in the RG space must have third party oversight to ensure such cutting edge technology is used correctly.
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