Mindway AI: “We lead in innovative tech designed to prevent problem gambling”

We sat down with Mindway AI ahead of the Casino Guru Awards ceremony this year to talk about the company’s nominations in two categories for the upcoming event - The Best Implementation of RG Tools and The Most Impactful Social Responsibility Initiative. Mindway AI walks us through their processes as well as how they stay at the cutting edge of developing technology that is designed to be insightful, helpful, and ultimately benefit customers and partner businesses seeking to help prevent or intervene in instances of problem gambling behavior. From leveraging AI to drawing robust scientific insights, Mindway AI presses on as RG has become of even greater importance to the industry.

Q: Mindway AI prides itself on developing a set of RG tools that are created to specifically address operator needs in the sector. What do you think is stopping some companies from partnering with you at the time?

It's essential for operators to understand the value and feasibility of integrating safer gambling tools into their operations. However, gambling operators often face various daily operational challenges and multiple demands that can impact their business or potential partnerships. Gambling operators need to comply with complex and evolving regulations. Ensuring that their operations adhere to local, national, and international laws is a continuous challenge.

Changes in regulations can have a significant impact on the business model and require constant monitoring and adaptation. As we all know, the gambling industry is highly competitive, with new operators entering the market regularly, big M&A deals constantly taking place and companies investing heavily in R&D and innovation for an enhanced customer experience. Staying ahead of the game requires continuous innovation, adapting to trends, and offering a unique value proposition to players. All of these demands can feed into the complex operational challenges some operators may face and why sometimes RG can slip down the list of priorities unfortunately. The good news is that we are here to help operators to significantly mitigate such risks and for them to benefit from operational optimization on RG.

Q: Have the businesses that have been working with you been receptive and positive about the changes that Mindway AI's player protection tools brought around? Has it been a good business decision for them do you think?

Certainly, the businesses that have integrated Mindway AI's player protection tools have been overwhelmingly receptive and positive about the transformative changes these tools have brought to their operations. Mindway AI's innovative solutions have proven to be instrumental in promoting responsible gaming practices, ensuring a safer and more secure environment for both players and the businesses themselves. Early detection of at-risk players keep gambling safe and entertaining. It enables operators to protect players and maintain long-term customer relations rather than losing customers to gambling-related harm.

But also tracking the risk profile of their entire customer database enables operators to prioritise their responsible gambling workflow and allocate resources more effectively. The positive feedback from the operators we work with underscores the effectiveness of Mindway AI's player protection tools in not only meeting regulatory requirements but also in enhancing overall customer satisfaction and trust.

Q: You have pivoted your entire product on solid scientific grounds, data, machine learning, and AI. Isn't Mindway essentially the solution to our problem gambling crisis which sees a small but impossible-to-overlook percentage of players still suffering in regulated markets? How can Mindway's RG and social responsibility commitments help resolve this issue once and for all?

Mindway AI is at the forefront of developing innovative technologies aimed at detecting and preventing problem gambling behaviour. Our award-winning software is built on a combination of insights from neuroscience, AI, and human psychologist expert’s assessments. By leveraging this technology, we empower both gambling operators and individuals to make informed decisions and take proactive measures to ensure responsible gambling.

Our GameScanner solution acts as ‘a virtual psychologist’ with AI-software based on real human psychologist expert’s assessments, thus providing automated psychologists’ assessments. GameScanner monitors and detects at-risk and problem gambling behaviour 24/7 for operators, enabling them to reach out, on a tailored, individualized basis to at-risk players at a very early stage.

Our second solution is Gamalyze, based on neuroscience, is an innovative way of reinventing self-tests as a card game. Gamalyze draws on insights from neuroscience and analyses each player’s decisions while they play. From this a report is generated with actionable feedback on the player’s strategy and sensitivity to rewards and losses, as well as specific advice to the individual player.

We believe that early detection of the individual player’s gambling behaviour combined with appropriate intervention steps, will decrease the probability of players developing gambling addictions. We are continuously updating our solutions in cooperation with neuroscientists, experts and psychologists specializing in gambling addiction.

Q: How are regulatory decisions impacting Mindway AI's own product - are there regulatory moves in prominent jurisdictions that you welcome and believe are a step in the right direction? We continue talking about "lack of evidence" in certain regulatory decisions, and it seems that if anyone would be qualified to assess such regulatory decisions it would be a company that is built on a scientific approach towards RG and gambling.

We are constantly evolving to react to market challenges, which allows us to stay ahead of competitors but also at the heart of ongoing regulatory conversations. We always stay up to date on relevant legislation/regulation, to give our customers the best RG systems possible. This can be illustrated in relation to the UK Gambling Commission's guidelines or in relation to regulatory changes in the Spanish Royal Decree on Responsible Gaming Environments summer last year where we within a few weeks had updated our solutions to fit the new requirements. Finally, it can also be illustrated in the fact that we, at Mindway AI, as one of very few RegTech solution providers, participate in the EU-based project "Standardization of markers of harm", initially initiated by EGBA, but now anchored at EU’s standardization body CEN. Being at the centre of initiatives such as this and keeping abreast of changes in regulations mean we have a seat at the table for these important discussions and developments.

Q: Has your company been approached by regulators, treatment centers and institutions to offer insight into a better understanding of the psychology of problem gambling and use hard evidence and data in overcoming these issues? If not, do you think this would be a meaningful collaboration to begin with?

Mindway AI have actively collaborated with gambling operators, regulatory bodies, and experts to develop and implement best practices for safer gambling. Partnerships include Gordon Moody, EPIC Risk Management, Doura-Schawohl Consulting and AnonyMind, as

well as several regulators both in Europe and in the US. Such collaborations include sharing knowledge and participating in industry initiatives aimed at minimizing gambling-related harm.

Q: What do you think your biggest contribution to social responsibility in gambling is today?

From our beginnings in 2018, Mindway AI has grown from a small startup to the international company it is today. Our mission is to create a real impact in the fight against gambling harm, we need to bring operators, safer gambling organizations, NGOs, regulators, and legislators to the table to collectively raise the bar for player protection. We have a strong portfolio of partners and membership organisations that is growing globally. We are proud winners of 14 industry awards to date in the space of 5 years which is a testament to our continuous contribution to social responsibility in gambling.

Q: Has the Casino Guru Awards made you more aware of the importance of implementation of RG tools and raising social responsibility as part of your core business model and do you think improvements were made because of this format?

The Casino Guru Awards have played a pivotal role in steering the focus towards responsible business practices. The recognition and acknowledgement of the importance of these factors through the awards have served as building blocks to consistently better ourselves and stand out amongst the competition in the safer gambling landscape.

Q: What has motivated you to sign up for the format, and what do you hope to gain as a result of your participation and potentially winning the awards?

Mindway AI's decision to enter both The Best Implementation of RG Tools award and The Most Impactful Social Responsibility Initiative award is to showcase our breakthrough safer gambling solutions and to highlight our advancement in this area in the space of five years. In 2023 we were crowned proud winners of The Best Implementation of RG Tools award, and it is a title we are keen to hang on to!

Participating in and potentially winning the Casino Guru Awards presents an opportunity to not only gain recognition but also to build on our commitment to providing outstanding safer gambling solutions in the gambling industry.

Image credit: Casino Guru Awards