Online gambling: Artificial intelligence and personal address protect players
Modern player protection software is capable of detecting potentially addictive behavior in online gambling and initiating measures if necessary. This ensures personal and individual protection for those affected. At an event organized by the Austrian Betting and Gambling Association (OVWG), international experts from science and industry discussed the topic of player protection and gambling addiction from psychological, medical and technical perspectives.
Florian Sauer, International Compliance Director of the online provider Entain, opened the event on September 14 with a keynote on player protection measures of private internet gambling providers. He explained how player protection software can effectively protect players in the online gaming process. With the help of algorithms based on findings from addiction research, individual player behavior is analyzed and players are given automatic warnings in the event of conspicuous gaming behavior. Sauer emphasized that increasingly sophisticated technical developments are improving player protection in this regard. However, as soon as the player exhibits very conspicuous behavior, personal contact with the player by trained personnel replaces the software.
Moderated by Raffaela Zillner, Secretary General of the OVWG, international experts from the fields of medicine, psychology and information technology then discussed the topic. Michael Auer, CEO of Neccton and developer of the player protection software mentor, followed Sauer’s presentation and emphasized the efficiency of automated feedback for players through protection software: “In order to stop players who exhibit problematic gaming behavior in time, pop-up messages, for example, prove their worth. Especially when you show a player how his own gaming behavior deviates from that of an average player”.
Cooperation between industry and science is essential
Anonymised data from player protection software is also helpful for research into gambling behaviour and addiction: “Online providers have data sets on the duration, intensity and development of customers’ gambling behaviour. These data sets are essential for science and the further development of gambler protection,” stressed British gambling addiction expert Mark Griffiths, who analyses problem gambling behaviour in close cooperation with the industry and thus provides political decision-makers with important impulses for the further development of gambler protection. Gabriele Fischer, Head of the Drug Outpatient Clinic, Addiction Research and Therapy at the Medical University Hospital in Vienna, added that Austria still lacks the necessary awareness of the issue of gambling addiction. In her opinion, it would be important to first determine how many gambling addicts there are in Austria in order to be able to base further (regulatory) steps on reliable figures.