Playtech, a gambling software development company, has announced a multiyear collaboration with the University of Nevada Las Vegas International Gaming Institute (IGI) to combine their expertise in gambling software and player protection advances.
Responsible Gaming Through AI
Artificial intelligence is the avant-garde technology used in everything from machine automation to science to gaming technology. It is the latter in which Playtech and UNLV’s International Gaming Institute will collaborate to produce advanced player protections and gambling software that can help protect players who may be susceptible to problem gambling or addictive behavior.
“We are delighted to collaborate with the prestigious UNLV IGI,” commented Jonathan Doubilet, VP of US Business Operations at Playtech, in a press release. “Their expertise in the gambling and technology sector helps continue to generate powerful insights that benefit all stakeholders in advancing player protection.”
Playtech will also integrate its expertise into the Gaming Manufacturing Internship Program at IGI’s Center for Gaming Innovation.
Generational Giants
Both organizations share a generational history, with Playtech being formed in 1999 while UNLV’s non-profit International Gaming Institute was founded in 1993. The IGI’s mission statement has focused on responsible gambling, regulation and policy, sports, and more recently, esports.
ESPN BET donated $200,000 to the IGI last fall to promote responsible gambling and marketing practices, educate industry leaders, and analyze findings that will lead to clearer and more accurate insights into the gaming world and its burgeoning technology.
Gaming Industry Donates Big Bucks
Responsible gaming solutions have been the beneficiary of hundreds of millions of dollars from the gaming industry itself. The American Gaming Association announced the reports of a study that revealed the legal gaming industry donated $471.8 million, which was a 72% increase over the $275 million it spent in 2017.
Joe Maloney, AGA’s senior vice president of strategic communications, commented on the study and what it says about those in the industry, stating, “Beyond the considerable taxes gaming companies contribute to fund responsible gaming and problem gambling resources, the industry also proactively invests hundreds of millions of dollars more to ensure our customers have the tools, knowledge, and safeguards to play responsibly.”
The areas receiving the lion’s share of these responsible gambling dollars are in the following sectors:
Customer service interactions: $135.4 million
- Developing and maintaining responsible gaming programs: $122.4 million
- Consumer-facing responsible gaming education: $107.7 million
- Responsible gaming research and other non-profit RG organizations: $31.8 million
- Problem gambling supportive services: $26.1 million
Seven major online sports betting operators, including BetMGM, bet365, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, Hard Rock Digital, and PENN Entertainment, formed a new industry trade association, the Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA).
“By coming together with a clear set of objectives, ROGA and our members will work to enhance consumer protections and help provide easier and more efficient access to responsible gaming tools for consumers to enjoy the entertainment of online gaming,” announced Dr. Jennifer Shatley, ROGA’s full-time Executive Director, in a press release earlier this year.
