3012: The Power of AI in Casinos: Enhancing Experiences and Upholding Ethics With Light & Wonder

[00:00:04] Greetings and salutations, welcome back to another episode of the Tech Talks Daily Podcast.

[00:00:11] Now have you ever wondered how AI is transforming the casino gaming industry?

[00:00:18] Probably not and that's why I record this podcast every single day.

[00:00:23] Every day we'll explore a different industry of how technology is impacting that and very

[00:00:28] often it'll be an area that you don't associate with tech.

[00:00:32] So today I'm going to be diving into this fascinating topic with a very special guest

[00:00:36] because joining me today is John Wolfe, President of Global Systems and Services at Light and

[00:00:44] Wonder and they are a leading cross-platform global games company valued at $3 billion.

[00:00:52] And with a deep understanding of both technology and the gaming industry, John is going to

[00:00:57] share his insights today on how AI is revolutionizing casino frauds, enhancing player experiences

[00:01:05] and of course most importantly ensuring ethical and responsible use of AI.

[00:01:11] I want to take a time out to express my gratitude to everyone who supports my mission of delivering

[00:01:17] daily content to you in 165 countries.

[00:01:20] I couldn't do it without you and I couldn't do it without my sponsors.

[00:01:23] And today I want to give a quick shout out to KiteWorks who recently told me that defence

[00:01:28] contractors are facing immense pressure to comply with things like CMMC 2.0 security

[00:01:34] standards and finding a secure, easy to use file sharing platform that meets those guidelines

[00:01:40] can be a big challenge.

[00:01:42] So quick shout out to any defence contractors listening out there.

[00:01:46] CMMC 2.0 compliance doesn't have to be a headache.

[00:01:50] Consider KiteWorks your fast track to authorization and as a FedRAMP moderate authorised solution

[00:01:56] they cover nearly 90% of CMMC 2.0 level 3 requirements.

[00:02:02] For you that means less time, less effort, less cost and while others struggle with DIY

[00:02:07] approval processes and clunky apps you'll breeze through with their Zero Trust frameworks

[00:02:12] so don't let compliance slow you down is what I'm trying to say.

[00:02:16] Simply visit KiteWorks.com to get started.

[00:02:19] That's KiteWorks.com to learn more about KiteWorks' secure content platform for CMMC compliance.

[00:02:26] But with my thank yous out of the way it's now time to jump right into today's interview

[00:02:31] with a fantastic guest.

[00:02:34] So buckle up and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way to Las Vegas

[00:02:40] where John is going to join us for an exciting conversation

[00:02:44] where we both explore the future of casino gaming and the innovative ways

[00:02:48] that AI is already reshaping this massive $300 billion industry.

[00:02:55] So a massive welcome to the show John, can you tell everyone listening a little about

[00:03:01] who you are and what you do?

[00:03:03] Yeah absolutely my name is John Wolfe 30 year casino and technology veteran largely focused

[00:03:09] in my career on the casino journey, the customer journey, customer experiences

[00:03:14] delivered through technology and of course opportunities and customer data and understanding.

[00:03:20] As global president systems I'm responsible for the day-to-day operations of our systems

[00:03:24] business worldwide as well as architect of our systems transformation strategy for

[00:03:29] next generation of products and services.

[00:03:33] Well it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast.

[00:03:35] So I know you're in Vegas at the moment I spoke with I think it was Michael Sherwood

[00:03:40] either last year or the year before and he was in charge of digital transformation in Vegas.

[00:03:45] There's so much technology there isn't they right across the state?

[00:03:48] Well absolutely I think people really don't understand

[00:03:52] really how deep our technology and data opportunities are in gaming and not just on

[00:03:58] the casino floor which is data rich but also through all of the different touch points

[00:04:02] of the customer journey throughout the hotels restaurants shows all of the different amenities

[00:04:07] that we offer here in Las Vegas they're all data rich and very customer driven.

[00:04:12] Yeah and you say driven there's even driverless cars going up and down the strip sometimes as well

[00:04:17] and for yourself John I mean can you share a bit about your role at light and wonder and

[00:04:22] your journey into the world of casino technology?

[00:04:26] I've got a feeling there's got to be a story there right?

[00:04:28] Well yeah absolutely I think listen I didn't start in casinos I was actually working in

[00:04:34] technology for DoD and helping to build what would become the the internet later and then

[00:04:41] actually joined the casino industry back in 1993 so I've been there quite a while.

[00:04:47] I had the fortunate opportunity to work on all sides of the business.

[00:04:50] I originally started out on the operation side building and operating casinos

[00:04:55] eventually leading several billion dollar gaming companies as their CIO

[00:04:59] that eventually led to my transformation as an entrepreneurial vendor and disruptor in the

[00:05:04] industry formulating and building a large number of the industries award-winning

[00:05:09] and transformational loyalty programs such as M-Life and a lot of other large programs.

[00:05:15] A couple years ago 2022 my entrepreneurial journey finally morphed into here at light

[00:05:22] and wonder as leading global president of their gaming systems.

[00:05:27] They purchased my company House Advantage and I joined the company to lead this new chapter

[00:05:31] of our systems journey so it's been it's been interesting to participate on all sides of

[00:05:35] the industry as an operator, as an entrepreneur and now running the company's leading gaming

[00:05:42] systems business really great. And speaking of new chapters you're right in the middle of a

[00:05:48] huge new chapter at the moment because light and wonder are at the forefront of AI integration

[00:05:52] in casinos. So I've got to ask because a lot of people listening maybe not don't associate technology

[00:05:57] like AI with casino fraud so how is AI transforming casino frauds and what specific technologies are

[00:06:04] being implemented right now? You know what the thing is is AI is finding its way into

[00:06:10] a lot of different areas of the casino floor and casino operations. You know really I mean

[00:06:16] when you talk about the casinos being so customer focused and so data rich there are a lot of really

[00:06:22] obvious opportunities some of them are very out front really understanding the player and being

[00:06:27] able to generate rewards in real time as customers are playing different games and

[00:06:34] participating within the casino but also you know in the background understanding the value of a

[00:06:40] player over the long term and even in kind of customer protection in areas of responsible gaming

[00:06:46] and identifying bad actors such as you know in money laundering types of activities. So

[00:06:51] you know AI is finding its way into a lot of really interesting and different aspects of

[00:06:57] the casino floor typically with the customer at its focus. And with the casino industry

[00:07:05] being worth nearly 300 billion dollars how do you see AI driving growth and innovation across the

[00:07:11] sector over the next few years? It's quite mouthwatering the number of opportunities but I'm

[00:07:15] curious what you see what excites you here? Well yeah I think what's great is that for you know

[00:07:22] the business is starting to look at the customer a lot more holistically across the entire

[00:07:26] journey so where it did start out on the casino floor it's really about understanding

[00:07:30] the entire customer and using AI in really interesting ways because again you've got a lot

[00:07:35] of different amenities coming together from hotels to shows and dining and even F1 races as an example

[00:07:43] but you've also got these aspects where we've got a large division of our company running

[00:07:48] iGaming all across the world and then you've got social gaming and so a customer's gaming journey

[00:07:54] is also at home in sports betting and iGaming social gaming and really using AI interesting to

[00:08:01] understand the customer across all those dimensions creates a tremendous opportunity

[00:08:05] and it's going to drive a lot of growth across all of those verticals individually

[00:08:09] but also collectively across that customer journey so it's credible credible opportunities.

[00:08:14] And for people listening all around the world that like to go in casinos like to

[00:08:19] frequent a lot of the different options that you've mentioned in what ways are you seeing AI

[00:08:24] enhancing the player experience on the casino floor and I think well you know we build a number

[00:08:30] of different models and have new things coming out every day one of the first things that we built

[00:08:35] was really identifying when customers are about to end their gaming journey and we can predict in a

[00:08:41] very high reliability that the customer is about done gaming and we can launch promotions and

[00:08:47] rewards to extend their play and enhance their experience so we know when they're about ready

[00:08:52] to pull that card and they're about done for the day and some of that may be balance left in their

[00:08:57] wallet or based on previous play patterns and we can launch really interesting game enhancing

[00:09:02] features and promotions in real time to put more money on their account and extend their play

[00:09:08] and and enhance their experience so that's one way that we're using AI to understand the

[00:09:14] customer and predict that that opportunity but at the same time sometimes customers may not be

[00:09:19] having a really great experience you know when you talk about hold percentage on a slot machine

[00:09:24] those numbers achieved over like 16 million spins there could be a customer experience in there

[00:09:30] that may not be all that positive and we can detect that in real time and we can reward

[00:09:34] the player and enhance their experience and turn it from something that's not positive

[00:09:38] into something that's very very positive so you're going to see AI detecting individual

[00:09:43] behaviors and really responding to that and rewarding that behavior in real time and it's

[00:09:48] pretty exciting opportunity and the ethical use of AI is a critical topic in every industry right

[00:09:55] now and I would imagine even more so in your industry so how do you like and wonder and

[00:10:01] ensure that AI is used both responsibly in casino gaming and are there any measures that you

[00:10:06] put in place to protect things like player data and privacy etc. Oh without a doubt listen play

[00:10:12] your data and privacy independent of AI is something we take very very seriously

[00:10:16] we're always putting in measures to protect that data encrypted at the right level

[00:10:20] make sure that our security is very tight but then when you talk about AI

[00:10:25] you've got an additional level of trust that you've got achieved there because it's such

[00:10:29] new technology and right or wrong it's getting a lot of press and a lot of people are confused

[00:10:34] about what's reality and what's not reality one of the things that we believe in is transparency

[00:10:39] and I get this question a lot as I'll do a panel or attend a trade show transparency is key

[00:10:45] transparency of what your model is what data it's using how it uses it not just at a very high

[00:10:52] level but also at a decision basis level as each decision is being made by AI making sure that

[00:10:58] there's transparency and the data that was used in that decision how it was weighted and what

[00:11:04] the outcome of that decision was and so we take a very you know we take a very serious look at

[00:11:10] the models that we're building but additionally we make sure that there's tremendous transparency

[00:11:15] into those models the work that they're doing so people can trust them at a very high level but

[00:11:20] also at a very micro level on a transactional basis and we think that that's a great way to

[00:11:26] build both understanding and trust with our with our customers and a few a few moments ago

[00:11:33] you mentioned protecting against things like money laundering so what role do you see AI in

[00:11:38] addressing issues like money laundering and promoting responsible gaming it's playing a

[00:11:44] very big role and in the years a good example you know in marketing we talk about tiers of one

[00:11:48] we talk about really understanding players on a very individual level typically we've kind of

[00:11:54] marketed players in big groups of 50,000 or 100,000 might be in this particular tier

[00:11:59] now we're marketing to them on an individual tier of one and I think in responsible gaming

[00:12:04] that also applies there we can look at responsible gaming at a macro level and say one rule set

[00:12:11] applies to everybody I think we need to look and understand use AI to understand individual

[00:12:17] habits of players and really understand you know when they're playing outside their

[00:12:22] normal patterns when they're when they're engaging in some individually risky behavior

[00:12:27] that might not be risky to a different gambler but are risky to them and then at that point you know

[00:12:33] apply policies and the policies can be you know in North America it's very much about more of an

[00:12:38] intervention where we're working down in New Zealand Australia we're actually interrupting

[00:12:42] play we will actually shut down the slot machine proactively when we reach a mandatory

[00:12:47] break in play so we can play a coach to cop role anywhere in between there on the technology

[00:12:53] just raising awareness or we can actually engage and shut down the gaming activity for a period of

[00:12:59] time to facilitate some health so we see AI playing a very critical role in understanding that player

[00:13:07] understanding their habits and really protecting them at the right level rather than some broad

[00:13:12] based type of rules and this space is moving so quickly at the moment so looking into the future

[00:13:18] we're already only what six months away from 2025 are there any other exciting AI advancements that

[00:13:25] you anticipate in the casino gaming industry or how are you preparing to lead in this space because

[00:13:31] there's so much happening isn't there almost every week yeah it really is and see that's the great

[00:13:36] thing about AI it is it lets you iterate rapidly it really does and I think what's going to be

[00:13:43] great about 25 is that now customers are kept coming and saying we would like to see AI applied here I

[00:13:49] think up until now it's been kind of a unidirectional conversation where we've been kind of driving as

[00:13:55] a vendor and now it's becoming much more of a collaborative conversation on how casinos and

[00:14:01] operators want to see the technology leveraged they want to get in and kind of partner with us

[00:14:06] on building new models where initially we were leading the charge and educating and showing

[00:14:12] what's possible now I think they're getting a lot more traction in their understanding and it's

[00:14:17] becoming a lot more of a collaborative conversation on how to deploy it getting it deployed rapidly

[00:14:22] and building a lot of trust around the technology and deriving value so I think 25

[00:14:27] is going to be really where everybody has kind of come to terms with what AI is what it isn't

[00:14:33] the opportunities versus the risks and then I think we're going to see a lot of interesting

[00:14:37] models and deployments come out of that both in direct engagement with the customer

[00:14:42] but also in the background of understanding the customer on a much larger level over the long term

[00:14:49] and we're even using AI now to kind of start to take on some mundane tasks one of the things

[00:14:54] we're going to be showing at G2E here in just a couple months is that we've used AI

[00:14:58] to automate the daily accounting slot audit seems very boring but then you get into it and

[00:15:05] look at the amount of effort that's invested in that supporting that effort I tell you what it really

[00:15:10] creates a lot of efficiencies and opportunities to apply that capacity to more critical areas of the

[00:15:17] business and let the automation kind of intelligently manage those kinds of heavy lifting

[00:15:23] and critical aspects of the business so we're going to see it operate there in the background

[00:15:28] starting to take on more of those mundane tasks and create capacity for other opportunities

[00:15:33] and more attention on the business and I'm curious you've had a very very career had so many different

[00:15:39] roles and seen a lot of life and in different industries and work etc so it's someone right

[00:15:46] in the heart of this space right now what do you think is one thing that other industries might be

[00:15:51] able to take away from the use of AI and casino gaming because I suspect that you see a lot you

[00:15:57] experience a lot and maybe set off a few light bulb moments thinking oh this could work somewhere

[00:16:01] else but do you got any of those moments oh really do as far as you know being able to interact with

[00:16:07] the customer in real time and really change the direction of the relationship really create

[00:16:13] customer satisfaction in real time based on an understanding of that individual customer it's

[00:16:18] going to be something that applies in every industry know your customer and be able to react to

[00:16:24] them uh in real time nobody wants to react to the customer after they've already had a problem

[00:16:29] it is very dissatisfied recovery is hard recovery is expensive and using AI to facilitate

[00:16:35] high levels of customer satisfaction and intuition is something that I think applies in any business

[00:16:40] in the gaming industry is continuing they've always been a leader on that forefront but I tell

[00:16:46] you what knowing your customer and being able to manage their expectations and a deliver

[00:16:50] at a very high level is something that we're going to continue to shine at and I think other

[00:16:55] industries are going to learn a lot from us in that in that aspect and I'm conscious we've been

[00:17:00] very forward thinking today looking into the future the role of technology and we've almost

[00:17:06] come full circle now we started at your origin story and I want you to look back at your career

[00:17:11] because none of us are able to achieve any degree of success without a little help along the way

[00:17:16] so I'm curious is there a particular person who's you're grateful for who helps you get

[00:17:21] you where you are or maybe just saw something in you invested a bit of time in you who would

[00:17:26] that person be and why it'd be great to give him a little shout out to them I tell you what I

[00:17:31] that's a tough question because I've gotten to work with so many people yeah in the industry

[00:17:34] they're just uber talented but I tell you what I would have to point to uh Jack Benion Jack

[00:17:39] Benion is a casino legend really known for understanding players at a completely different

[00:17:45] level knowing how to service them on a on a different level he really taught me a lot

[00:17:49] about focusing on the customer and then also gave me really great incubators in which to start to

[00:17:56] leverage technology in interesting ways in order to kind of reinforce his value system about player

[00:18:01] first the player is always right and and how to anticipate their needs and I think that was

[00:18:08] really a critical step for me early in my career and he really gave me opportunities to learn from

[00:18:13] him but also gave me an incubator in which I could bring technology into that discussion

[00:18:17] in some really interesting ways and I just don't think I would have had the career

[00:18:21] that I've had without that early start with him and and his uh intuition around the customer

[00:18:27] wow what an incredible mentor to have as well or I was a very special guy

[00:18:31] oh he's incredible and uh it's it's interesting the more that we go forward I find out the

[00:18:37] more that I revisit those early lessons uh I wrap customer experience and and really anticipating

[00:18:43] their needs uh I think that's how that always goes the more you find out those old lessons

[00:18:47] are even more relevant today than they were back then they they never change and they're

[00:18:52] they're always critical in any new technology that we're bringing to bear

[00:18:56] 100% with you a big shout out to Jack there and I think it's so important that we recognize

[00:19:02] that the role that people have in building our success success and as you said you

[00:19:06] still go back to those early lessons such a powerful moment to end on but before I do

[00:19:11] let you go I suspect we have set off a lot of light bulb moments today so what is the best

[00:19:16] place for anyone listening to find you or your team online and find out more about anything we talked

[00:19:21] about today I'll tell you what you know again we we talk a lot about our technology and including

[00:19:26] AI you know in different uh articles on on LinkedIn and interviews there we put out different

[00:19:33] videos that are really subject matter focused on things that we're doing that's always a great

[00:19:37] place and also a great place to connect with me there I love connecting with everybody both in

[00:19:43] and out of our industry so so locating me on LinkedIn it's always great and then of course

[00:19:49] our website LNW.com has a lot of great information and we're always keeping that up to date about

[00:19:54] new innovations and new opportunities and technologies so those are two great areas

[00:19:58] to kind of catch up with us both out there on LinkedIn and on our website as well.

[00:20:02] Awesome well I'll add links to everything to make it easy for people to find you

[00:20:06] and I love so much about our conversation today every day I go into a different industry a few

[00:20:11] days ago I was looking at the world of jewelry and how that has been transformed by technology

[00:20:16] and today of course it's all about AI transforming casinos how it's changing the casino for ways

[00:20:22] that AI can change player experiences and also in an ethical and responsible way but not only

[00:20:28] that thinking outside the casino the different industries that this technology can impact for

[00:20:33] the better there as well so just a big thank you for shining a light on on this today and

[00:20:38] setting off as I said a few moments ago a lot of light bulb moments thanks again.

[00:20:42] Oh Neil thank you as much this was this is great subject matter and you know I think it's

[00:20:48] just an important forefront for not just our industry but every industry where

[00:20:53] customers are at the folk of any business. Wow an absolute pleasure having John Wolf from

[00:20:59] Light and Wonder joining us today and sharing his expertise on how AI is transforming the casino

[00:21:05] gaming landscape but also from enhancing player experiences to ensuring ethical use of AI I think

[00:21:12] John's insights have shed light today on the incredible innovations that are happening in this

[00:21:17] space and for the large part things that we don't see happening the tech under the hood that creates

[00:21:24] those experiences but what are your thoughts on the impact of AI in this industry and indeed

[00:21:31] your industry I'd love to hear from you so please email me tech blog writer outlook.com

[00:21:39] you can get me on twitter link to in instagram just at neil c hues but as I always say don't

[00:21:44] follow send me a quick message tell me what episode resonated with you and offer your

[00:21:50] insights as well or just say hello or ask me a question but please stay tuned for more exciting

[00:21:55] conversations as we continue to explore the cutting-edge developments in technology

[00:22:00] and their impact on so many different industries but more than anything thank you for listening

[00:22:06] today and until next time keep innovating and remember stay curious bye for now