All-In on AI: How the New Technology Is Rewiring the Casino Experience

^{From UNLV to the casino floor, Dr. Kasra Ghaharian's research and work with AiR Hub is working to understand more about AI’s growing role in responsible gambling and player experience. (Screenshot: SiGMA World / YouTube)}

LAS VEGAS -- Artificial intelligence is a facet of technology in all of our lives and may be reshaping the gaming industry as we know it. From slot machines that track your every spin to surveillance cameras that can predict a fight before it happens, AI is finding its way into nearly every corner of the gambling world. 

With the technology moving fast, researchers are actively working to understand the many ways it impacts the player experience.

Leading the charge is Dr. Kasra Ghaharian, a researcher at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and co-founder of the school’s AiR Hub (Artificial Intelligence Responsible Research Hub). The AiR Hub's mission is to figure out how casinos can use AI to make gaming smarter, safer, and possibly more responsible. 

He spoke to Casinos.com about how this nascent revolution could alter the casino experience so many people know and love. 

"We founded AiR Hub because we saw an opportunity to establish a center of excellence for AI research and gambling," Ghaharian said. "As AI continues to advance at the rate it is, it's going to be important for our industry and all industries to really study what the impacts are going to be."

Think hyper-personalized comps, loyalty perks tuned to your favorite games, and systems that flag risky behavior before it spirals out of control. But as Ghaharian sees it, the same tools that could make casinos more efficient also could push players closer to the edge.

Ghaharian earned his Ph.D in Hospitality Administration and Management from UNLV and has spent years studying the way that machine learning and applied math can optimize the casino floor. His latest work has centered on how to use technology to improve the customer experience in the casino and using AI to encourage responsible gambling. 

AI on the Casino Floor

According to Ghaharian, AI's biggest impacts so far are seen in online gaming and on the backend systems for land-based casinos. He says the online casino sector has advanced more than land-based casinos at this time, but brick-and-mortar properties are starting to catch up by incorporating AI into loyalty programs and marketing tools. 

Casinos can use AI to optimize customer relationship management by tailoring marketing offers and helping to automate engagement strategies. "It's enhancing what casinos are already doing in terms of player database management, targeting, and player value evaluations," Ghaharian said.

He noted that AI can hyper-personalize casino rewards offerings based on a guest's habits and preferred casino games and amenities they use most. Ghaharian calls this a "no brainer.”

In Macau, he says, casinos are already embracing the use of AI by embedding RFID chips into gaming tables and casino chips, enabling the use of AI systems to analyze play. 

But AI's applicability to casinos extends beyond just marketing. Specifically, Ghaharian noted the growing use of Vision AI, a facial recognition technology capable of tracking player behavior.

“Vision AI lets casinos use facial detection to track players," Ghaharian said. "There’s no need for a player’s card now.” 

He explained instead how Vision AI can identify and track players by face, offering casinos a deeper view into how guests engage with games, and thus how the casinos can engage with guests.

The technology can also be used to count patrons for crowd control, detect weapons, and even prevent violence. One company, Ghaharian noted, has developed a model capable of predicting when a fight might break out – “10–20 seconds in advance” – giving security teams a critical head start. This kind of system might have prevented incidents like the 2024 stabbing at Red Rock Casino, where a man was able to bring a knife onto the casino floor, or the 1 October shooting that killed 60 and wounded more than 400.

Why ChatGPT Won't Help You Beat the House 

While advanced AI is helping casinos run smarter and safer, there are growing myths among gamblers that concern over how general-purpose AI tools like ChatGPT and Google Gemini can help them outsmart the odds.  

The hype hit headlines earlier this year when rapper Drake made headlines for reportedly using ChatGPT to help place his bets on the platform Stake – showing how unreliable it can be to trust a general purpose chatbot to make reliable predictions.

Ghaharian explained that language models such as ChatGPT weren't built for predicting bets or optimizing odds. 

"It's not like ChatGPT [has been designed] specifically for sports betting or anything like that. It's supposed to handle general inquiries about everything," Ghararian said. "The output isn't ground-breaking truth. It's not going to make you a winning gambler."

Where Ghaharian does see promise is in casino-built AI systems that analyze real player behavior. By tracking patterns such as escalating wagers or chasing losses, these models can flag risky play or possible gambling addiction.

“They build these systems that ingest the behavioral data that's connected,” he explained. “On slot machines you can collect the bet-by-bet data for each player to model them and put them into the system."

Still, there’s a flip side. AiR Hub research suggests that general AI models sometimes encourage play in moments where restraint might be healthier. “Based on the research we’ve done," Ghararian said, “we’ve seen it kind of encourage gambling maybe when it shouldn’t.”

What’s Next: From Betting Bots to Emotion-Reading Slots

Ghaharian believes the next frontier is what he calls Agentic AI – autonomous systems that can act without human input. He referenced OpenAI’s upcoming ChatGPT Agents feature, which could potentially be used to place bets or run entire gaming sessions without people involved.

“What if you asked ChatGPT to organize a game of the Super Bowl, have it pick a parlay for you, and actually place the bets for you?” he speculated.

He also imagines games that react in real time to a player’s emotions. A slot machine, for example, could change its theme, colors, or characters based on facial expressions or biometric feedback. 

“Maybe you’re detecting emotions, and then you can change the theme or characters in a game based on the player’s mood or engagement level,” Ghararian said.

To track these shifts, AiR Hub is preparing its first State of AI in Gaming report, expected to be published in the first half of 2026. This study will offer a comprehensive look at how artificial intelligence is being used across both online and land-based casino operations. “This report will survey the current and emerging use cases of AI across the whole of the gambling value chain,” Ghaharian said.

As casinos continue to explore new ways to integrate artificial intelligence, researchers like Ghaharian will continue to monitor how the gambling industry evolves with AI. The line between personalization and surveillance is blurring fast – and casino operators will need to decide how far they’re willing to push it.