If you were to pinpoint the key aspects behind what drove your new AI chat integration tool, what would they be?  

The HubAI initiative was launched because, as aggregators, we are sitting on a lot of insight. Our industry is 24/7, 365 and, in most cases, the answer to any given questions that our clients have is sitting somewhere in our files. We began asking ourselves, why can’t we put that information to use?

When we talk about data, we can see a lot of volume going through different casinos. We’re sitting on top of billions of transactions from year-to-year, alongside behavioural patterns, insights from conferences and much more – why don’t we just put up an intelligence layer that can easily go into the documentation, provide our site visitors with an answer to their questions and help us all move forward?

If a developer that has no experience with iGaming is helping an operator with the integration, there is no need to wait for the technical team to answer a basic question. You can just put an AI to continue the integration, everybody’s happy and operations can go without any friction. These were the main conceptual drivers behind the idea to deploy HubAI – and to develop an AI initiative that wasn’t just AI for AI’s sake.

What are the key challenges in developing a product like this, particularly around ensuring it actually resonates with your client’s needs?  

This is an interesting challenge at the moment, not just for us. AI is in what I see as it’s Beta stage right now – and there are so many AI applications out there that come with a caveat of “the AI can make mistakes, please double check responses.” The point I’m trying to drive on here is that our in-house data analysts work tirelessly to ensure any data provided by HubAI is vetted because any misinterpretations could lead to financial losses, reputational damage or a range of other outcomes both for us and the client. 

Going beyond the basics of game aggregation, how do you think the sector has evolved in recent years regarding additional workflow assistance?  

Five years ago, I would have said there are a lot of opportunities in our industry because the industry itself in one sense could 
be considered a legacy sector. The aggregation layer is something of a sweet spot that everybody stays in without innovating
too much because, ultimately, it’s a safe bet. In terms of how things have actually evolved, I would say depth when it comes to player engagement is one thing that has progressed – because it’s one thing to have the content, it’s another thing to have all the tools required to make that content operate in a frictionless manner.

Another good evolutionary example is promotion. Promotion is an essential proponent that determines the profitability 
or performance of new titles. From both sides, operators and suppliers alike, automating promotions entails a lot of manual work at the end of the month, especially for B2B players. A lot of aggregators these days have automated promotions, nowadays, to help streamline these kinds of operations.

If there were one major product launch or event that you feel defines Hub88’s roadmap for this year, what would it be?  

HubAI is certainly a cornerstone for our 2026 roadmap, I would say, because we’re hoping it will have a direct effect on lots of different key areas of our business – from faster integration to revenue-driving insights by analysis. It will remove the process of copying and pasting data from one workflow to the next, giving us a good scope of direction with regard to our evolving problem-solving mechanisms.

I think this forms really solid roots for us with regards to our 2026 roadmap, from which lots of different branches of initiatives will spring from.

Speed of integration is perhaps the key challenge for modern aggregators – what, in your opinion, is the future of frictionless integration technology in gaming?

I would say this has always been a challenge, and it’s a very interesting topic, because these days there is a lot of emphasis on payments and ensuring you get your payment partnerships right. Ultimately, for our sector and our industry, the race is who can make it to an almost instant level of integration. The amount of time for a single integration typically is between 30 and 40 days, not accounting for the technical integration itself.

And we are trying to integrate the circles of coordination between the two teams to help expedite the whole process. Whoever gets it right with just a single click makes the difference for 
the entire aggregation space.