Veikkaus has acquired a machine-learning based system designed to increase player engagement. The move comes ahead of the country’s upcoming gambling market liberalisation and has already drawn criticism.
Local newspaper Yle reported on the development, citing the operator’s procurement announcement.
The system is designed to deliver personalised content, such as benefits, messages and recommendations, to players in real time. According to the procurement notice, it aims to ‘engage players at key moments.’ Veikkaus confirmed to Yle that the acquisition is related to changes in the gambling market.
Veikkaus faces questions over personalised player targeting
Gambling researcher Virve Marionneau questioned how commercial objectives such as increasing player spending can be reconciled with Veikkaus’ responsibility to prevent gambling-related harm.
Preventing and reducing gambling-related harm is among Veikkaus’ statutory responsibilities. Under the Lotteries Act, the company must operate in a manner that prevents and reduces the economic, social and health harms caused by gambling.
Veikkaus said its existing system can identify risky gambling behaviour and is closely linked to the newly acquired technology. However, Marionneau argues that the same player data can serve both commercial and harm-prevention purposes, creating a potential conflict.
According to Marionneau, a small share of players generates a large proportion of gambling revenue, meaning high-value customers may also display signs of gambling problems.
She also noted that gambling companies can use data to identify when a player is about to stop playing, then offer a bonus or other incentive to keep them playing. However, she stressed that no evidence shows Veikkaus intends to use its system this way.
DraftKings faces similar scrutiny over AI-powered targeting
Veikkaus is not the sole gambling operator facing scrutiny over machine-learning software employment. Earlier this month, a New York Times article raised serious allegations against DraftKings, noting that the operator allegedly uses AI-powered data analysis to target gamblers most likely to lose.
The Times reported obtaining internal documents and interviewing dozens of former DraftKings employees. DraftKings, however, disputed the claims, saying its promotions are based on engagement metrics.
While targeting engaged users and those with the largest losses can overlap, the exact mechanism by which DraftKings ’ model weighs variables remains unknown.
As AI advances, so do questions over personalised marketing
Concerns over targeting practices like these persist across multiple industries, as vast amounts of human-generated data are used to make increasingly precise predictions about consumer behaviour.
AI capabilities are advancing faster than regulation, while data analysis is becoming cheaper, more automated and more precise.
As companies gain greater access to consumer data, targeted marketing elicits ethical questions about how far businesses should go when using personal information to influence behaviour.
As a result, we are likely to see increased scrutiny of how AI tools are used for personalised targeting across the industry.
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