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AI Is Being Used To Predict Gambling Behavior (theguardian.com)
"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.
"Gamblers' every click, page view and transaction is scientifically examined so that ad"
Wow, not just examined, but SCIENTIFICALLY EXAMINED. With real science and stuff. The AI hype train is on the track!
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.
Wanna bet?
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.
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 nit you know that you'll lose - pretty much 100% guaranteed. And there's no social upside. Really, to me, it just looks like poker machine players willingly turn themselves into zombies, mindlessly shovelling their hard-earned into a machine that gives nothing back but random blinking lights and annoying noises. How is that fun?
The AI winter is coming. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
To prevent that good news about AI is released.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
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!
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.
Much like other addictions, when a gambler gets hooked, all common sense and reason goes out the window.
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 money in the machine.
To everybody but him, it was painfully obvious that very best he could possibly do was win back 80% of his own money he had put in. He could never see it that way though. He could only see "today". For example, he could go several nights in a row losing a few hundred bucks, but then on the next night maybe win $200 after only putting $20 in. He'd be so proud of that $180 "profit" but always lose sight of $250 he blew in the previous days.
I suppose he could have gone on like this for a while, only losing roughly 20% of his money. But eventually some other regulars in the bar colluded with the bartender to figure out when the machine hadn't paid out recently but was packed full of my friends money. And would play when the machine was fat and he wasn't around. It wasn't long before he was financially wrecked.
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 questioning it transpired that $xx was actually the total payout with the cost to play being in excess of that.
what I did learn was that the stupid machines have their payout prominently labeled on them. So gamblers are confronted with a slot machine saying 99% payout -- and yet they still feel they can win. And, in the short term, with enough money to avoid bottoming out, you can. But since you don't know when the loss will come the gambler keeps going. And even after they start losing following a winning streak they keep playing in order to "make up" their losses.
i was really surprised when a friend of mine who is a statistician started taking his family on trips to vegas for everyone to lose money. He's a smart guy and *has* to know that they cannot come out ahead -- and yet he still does it.
in gambling, the house *always* wins. And it isn't because they strong arm the "real" winners and take their money. Nothing that nefarious: but *all* games are structured (not rigged) to make them money. If they weren't they wouldn't offer them.