AI in Casinos: What Algorithms Can Do and What's a Myth

Neural networks write texts, draw pictures and drive cars. So the obvious question: has AI learned to beat the casino yet? Short answer: in some ways yes, but not where the sellers of "secret bots" claim. Here's where algorithms really work in casinos and where the myths begin.

Where AI really works in casinos

Most AI in the industry doesn't work against the player. It works behind the scenes.

• Fraud protection. Algorithms spot suspicious patterns: multi-accounting, money laundering, bonus abuse. No human could check that many transactions by hand.
• Document checks. During account verification, systems match documents and photos to make sure a real person is behind the account.
• Support. Chatbots answer routine questions around the clock and pass tricky cases to a live agent.
• Recommendations. Just like streaming services suggest films, casinos suggest games similar to ones you already enjoyed.

AI that protects players

The most useful application of AI in casinos is responsible gambling. Danish company Mindway AI grew out of research at Aarhus University and built a system called GameScanner. It analyzes player behavior and spots early signs of problem gambling so the operator can step in in time.

According to the company, GameScanner detects at least 87% of the cases a human expert would identify, operates in more than 39 countries and monitors 12.8 million active players a month. Its clients include US operator DraftKings.

Poker: where AI really did beat humans

Here machines have real wins. In 2017, Carnegie Mellon University's Libratus beat professionals at heads-up, one-on-one poker. In 2019, Pluribus, built by the same team together with Facebook, beat pros at a six-player no-limit Hold'em table. The results were published in the journal Science.

Pluribus learned by playing against itself, with no human guidance. Its opponents included Darren Elias, record holder for World Poker Tour titles, and Chris Ferguson, a six-time WSOP champion. In another experiment the bot played 10,000 hands against five pros at once and again came out ahead.

But there's an important caveat: in poker, people play against people. AI beats opponents, not the casino. That's why poker rooms ban bots and real-time assistance software, and accounts get banned for using them.

Myth: a neural network can predict a slot

It can't. Every spin's result is set by a random number generator, and previous spins have no effect on the next one. There's no pattern to "learn". AI is great at finding patterns, and randomness by definition has none.

Myth: a "predictor" knows when the plane will fly away

Social media is full of offers to buy a "predictor" or "signals" for Aviator and other crash games. It's a scam. The crash point in these games is set by a SHA-256 cryptographic hash, and calculating it in advance is practically impossible.

How these schemes usually work:

• the app just shows random numbers, and the seller disappears after you pay;
• the "predictor" only works after you sign up through an affiliate link, so the author earns on your deposits;
• the "app" is actually malware that steals passwords and wallet keys.

If someone asks for your casino login or promises a "guaranteed win", it's always a scam.

Provably fair: you can check without any AI

The good news is that fairness doesn't require AI or blind faith. Coins.Game crash games use a provably fair system. A chain of one million hashes is generated in advance, and each hash sets the multiplier of one round. The hashes are used in reverse order, so after a round anyone can verify the result: the previous game's hash is computed from the next one's, and no outcome can be changed after the fact.

You can try crash games through the Aviator mission, for example: 50 winning bets earn 25 free spins with no wagering. More in our guide to no-wagering free spins.

The bottom line

• AI in casinos protects: it catches fraudsters, checks documents and spots problem gambling.
• In poker, AI is stronger than humans, which is why bots are banned there.
• AI can't predict a slot or a crash game, and "predictors" exist only to take your money.

The urge to find a secret system is understandable: people have always wanted to tame luck. We wrote about it in our piece on superstitions in crypto casinos. But the best strategy hasn't changed: play for fun and decide in advance how much you're willing to spend. And you can check round fairness right on Coins.Game.