AI Is Being Used To Predict Gambling Behavior (theguardian.com) 54
"The gambling industry is increasingly using artificial intelligence to predict consumer habits and personalize promotions to keep gamblers hooked," reports The Guardian, citing industry insiders. "Current and former gambling industry employees have described how people's betting habits are scrutinized and modeled to manipulate their future behavior." From the report: Publicly, gambling executives boast of increasingly sophisticated advertising keeping people betting, while privately conceding that some are more susceptible to gambling addiction when bombarded with these type of bespoke ads and incentives. Gamblers' every click, page view and transaction is scientifically examined so that ads statistically more likely to work can be pushed through Google, Facebook and other platforms. Users unwittingly consent to the use of their data in ways they aren't aware of due to lengthy terms and conditions, enabling their information to legally be used in this way. Last August, the Guardian revealed the gambling industry uses third-party companies to harvest people's data, helping bookmakers and online casinos target people on low incomes and those who have stopped gambling. Despite condemnation from MPs, experts and campaigners, such practices remain an industry norm.
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Actually, it isn't. See my post in the last thread. What is up with all of these "Al" stories? There is a lot in tech news that isn't being covered while every other story on the front page is about Al. Did I miss something?
The Linux users that used to be all over slashdot have moved to Phoronix, and with good reason.
All that is left now is this crap.
Right, as participating in /. and Phoronix are mutually exclusive activities... with your post representative of a mere statistical anomaly.
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To prevent that good news about AI is released.
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> ... users that used to be all over slashdot have moved to Phoronix, ...
That shitty website that constantly links back to itself making it almost impossible to find the _original_ article?
Do you have any evidence that there was a mass exodus away from /. ?
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Did I miss something?
Yes. Tomorrow's article will be applying this "AI" to lootboxes.
Wow (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, not just examined, but SCIENTIFICALLY EXAMINED. With real science and stuff. The AI hype train is on the track!
I don't get gambling (Score:2, Interesting)
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Re:I don't get gambling (Score:5, Funny)
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Do you gamble at poker machines - and if so, out of genuine curiosity, could you explain why?
I mean, I kinda get gambling on sport - not my thing, but I guess you combine something you enjoy watching with the delusion that you can predict the outcome, add some extra spice to cheering for an outcome, fair enough.
And cards... yeah I suppose it's an excuse to sit around, have a drink and play a game with your mates, so ok, I get that.
But poker machines... why? I mean seriously, why? Unless you're a complete
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i know people who have absolute faith in their (or someone else's) luck. I have been regaled with stories of how they were stranded in a remote location with a poker machine until someone used their last dollar to win $20 and they got out.
in a previous relationship I was drug to Vegas and a casino. I made use of the "day care" (video games for kids whose parents were too busy losing money to look after them) while my ride blew money. At the end I was surprised to hear that $xx had been won -- but on questio
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Have you calculated a ROI for your investment at the gambling tables? You can find better investments, like putting the $$ in the shoe box under your mattress. I assume you find it entertaining and aren't planning a jackpot as your retirement strategy. I had a wife who really liked the casinos and I'd go occasionally, but I never got the bug. It seems like throwing away perfectly good money. If you leave the tables for the bar it's a sure thing.
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Back when there were $2 blackjack tables I could go to Vegas with $100, eat at $5 all-you-can-eat buffets, pay $25 for a clean hotel room, see a show, fill up the gas tank on the way out, and come home with $80-100 in my pocket.
Not a bad way to spend the weekend.
Now that the blackjack tables have $20 minimums, hotel rooms are $100+, and the all-you-can-eat buffets are gone: not interested.
Yeah, inflation. I know.
Re:I don't get gambling (Score:4, Interesting)
you know you're going to lose
Wrong. You can win or lose. That's why it's called gambling.
If you absolutely know for certain you're gonna lose, nobody would gamble and casinos wouldn't exist. It's the thrill of winning money that keeps people hooked.
Over long term yes the house wins. Law of large numbers and all that. But over a short time period - say one hour or one day - you can easily win. I've done it, I won 5 grand playing blackjack one night when I was 22 years old. It was exhilarating.
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Over long term yes the house wins. Law of large numbers and all that. But over a short time period - say one hour or one day - you can easily win. I've done it, I won 5 grand playing blackjack one night when I was 22 years old. It was exhilarating.
^ This is exactly the answer to the previous poster's question: gambling takes advantage of peoples' natural tendency to focus more on the near-term and less on the long-term. In the short run, gambling looks like a risky but potentially lucrative (and therefore exciting) "business opportunity". In the long term, it's obviously a scam, but that doesn't count for much with people who are not in the habit of thinking about the long term.
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I myself don't like gambling, but what you're saying is disingenuous. Nobody thinks of it as a "business opportunity" or a good way to make money. It's just a fun but ultimately harmless risky behavior for 99% of people. You're *not* guaranteed to lose money - I mean, of course you would be if you went every day for a year, but if you go for a weekend you make money 45% of the time and lose money 55% of the time.]
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Odds are—and you can bet the casino's bank on this—that momentary exhilaration tapped you for $15,000 going the other way over the next decade.
There's a good reason the first hit of crack cocaine is usually on the house.
I'm pretty up to speed on the PFC, dopaminic down-regulation, the basolateral amygdala, and the nucleus accumbens today (all implicated in sketchy impulse control) as I just invested my first two hours with Sapolsky's recent book Behave: The Biology of Humans
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Back in my drinking days, I'd hit the same bar every day after work. One of my friends there (a non-drinker) would be sitting in front of the "for entertainment only *wink, wink*" video slot machine for hours every day feeding it $20 at a time. The bar owner made no secret of the fact the machine was set to pay out only about 80% of it's take. And my friend was virtually the only person who ever put
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Some people just do it for the thrill. I play the lottery, even though the chance of winning is tiny it gives me a little bit of entertainment each week in exchange for a tiny sum of money I can afford to lose.
But like most things that are fun and pleasurable, it can be addictive. That little hit of adrenaline when the wheel spins or you get a good hand creates a feedback loop. It's a known vulnerability in the human brain, there is probably a CVE for it somewhere.
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When all's said and done, if you're not having fun playing the games, no, there's no good reason to gamble. And if you don't
True AI ... (Score:4, Insightful)
And when true AI finally does arrive it'll be on the back of tens of thousands of machine learning systems that have come before it which have been trained to treat people like they're something to be harvested. We're well on the way to the matrix, although it won't be at the end of a marxist robotic revolution rather than an inevitable evolution.
And sleazy psychologists preceded the AI (Score:3)
Does this progression surprise anyone? Mercenary psychologists that would sell out their own mothers don't come cheap; AI is a system you develop ONCE and don't have to pay a princely salary. The cost is all up-front. Would game developers who exploit loot boxes and casino game operators be interested in eliminating an HR expense? Duh!
Sleazy (Score:2)
Fear. Big fear. (Score:2)
Low income? (Score:2)
What's the point for casinos to target people on low income? High income is much more profitable.
Is it a "long tail" thing where they try to get a little bit of money from a large number of people instead of a lot of money from just the richest?
Predictable Behaviour, Not Surprising? (Score:2)
I'm not sure why this would come across as striking, most of us have some predictable behaviour or at least things that we do. It could be as simple as getting coffee every morning or something a tad more complex but at the end of the day all the AI is being used for is to look for these patterns. In the past, it would have taken a person carefully observing and analyzing to figure this out but nowadays a computer can be used to help find that pattern. Advertising already tries to do this thou usually no
Gambler (Score:1)