Hemash Bhatti: “Personalization has to be meaningful for every customer, not just a select few”

In an interview with Casino Guru News, Hemash Bhatti, Head of AI and Data Strategy at Koin, delves into the company’s ability to leverage player behavioral data across payments, loyalty, and engagement, providing partner operators with a blueprint for success.

By focusing on patterns rather than just transactions, Koin helps anticipate player needs, enabling preemptive engagement before disengagement occurs. Bhatti highlights operator openness to innovation, the challenge of deploying personalization at scale that extends beyond VIPs, and stresses that reliable data has been Koin’s biggest and most impactful asset so far..

Q: A big part of Koin’s current strategy relies on learning from player behavior. Could you elaborate on how this works and how it informs your business decisions?

At its core, we are building a picture of the player and customer journey across cashless payments, loyalty, and engagement touchpoints both on and off property. Rather than just tracking transactions, we look at patterns. How often a player visits, how they interact with promotions, which channels they respond to, and what their implicit and explicit preferences may be. These insights help us guide operators on where to focus, whether that is improving onboarding, refining offers, or adjusting product mix to reflect emerging behaviors.

Q: You’ve mentioned that Koin can learn from current behavior to "anticipate" player needs. How does this anticipation translate into tangible business results, and could you share some practical examples of how it has been applied?

Consider a player who routinely visits on Friday nights, funds digitally, and spends time in a particular part of the floor. If one weekend they deviate, our open-loop capabilities allow us to flag that change and surface relevant identifiers before disengagement occurs. This type of pre-emptive engagement is not hypothetical. Many operators already do a version of open-loop of it today, though often within the limits of their own ecosystem. Our role is to extend that capability by connecting more signals and making anticipation more actionable.

Q: Have you found partners open to this kind of preemptive solution deployment, or are operators still hesitant to act early on trends that Koin has identified as likely to emerge?

Historically, gaming has been cautious with innovation. That said, the environment is shifting. Payments, digital adoption, and personalization are accelerating the pace of change, and partners who once preferred to wait are now asking us to help them anticipate rather than simply react.

Q: Koin is also focusing on player personalization. What does personalization look like in this context, and is it even possible to talk about personalization in an industry where hundreds of thousands of players may be active with a single operator?

Personalization in gaming is not a new idea. Operators have traditionally executed it well with their top-tier customers. The challenge is scaling it across the entire base. To do that, two things are critical. First, the data inputs must extend beyond property systems alone. Second, personalization has to be meaningful for every customer, not just a select few, to support retention. We know consumers already expect this level of relevance from retail and streaming services. With the right data intelligence, it becomes possible in gaming, even across very large audiences.

Q: What has been your biggest breakthrough so far in deploying this kind of "predictive" technology, for lack of a better word?

The breakthrough is trust. Predictive intelligence only creates real impact when it is powered by reliable data. Our focus has been on proving that the data and intelligence we provide can deliver results operators can measure. That proof of value has opened the door to deeper discussions about how AI and data can shape the next phase of the casino experience.

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