How bettors and casino gamers are using ChatGpt in online sportsbooks and casinos

ChatGPT puts the full power of AI at our fingertips. The only limit is the user’s imagination — and sports bettors and casino gamers famously put plenty of faith in their dreams. What can casinos and sportsbooks do about it?

In 1997, IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue defeated reigning world chess champion Gary Kasparov, becoming the first computer to win a match against a world champion. With 10,123 possible moves in a typical game of chess, the game’s complexity made the win a landmark moment in the development of AI. 

In 2016, Google DeepMind’s AlphaGo program beat world Go champion Lee Se-Dol in three out of four matches; with 250,150 possible moves in an average game, Go is even more complex than chess. 

And in November 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT, letting anyone, anywhere, harness the power of AI for calculating odds, strategizing, and quickly solving tasks of immense complexity. With the capacity to assess any situation, analyze the available options, and weigh all possible outcomes in the snap of a finger, ChatGPT gives the user an obvious edge for any kind of game.

So it’s no wonder that bloggers and YouTubers are posting about their experiences using ChatGPT for (primarily) sports betting and (less often) casino gaming. 

Sportsbooks have long used AI for data feeds and odds setting. How will the advent of widespread AI access change the sports betting landscape? Can ChatGPT help sports bettors and casino gamers, and what can casinos and sportsbooks do about it?

Let’s see. 

How can bettors use ChatGpt?

Betting is a numbers game. For avid bettors, choosing a winner is only half the thrill; their joie de vivre comes from pitting their idea of the odds against the bookies’. 

Given ChatGPT’s knack for arithmetic and ability to gather data at blinding speeds, it’s no wonder that sports bettors sat up and took notice as soon as the technology was available; surely AI would give them an edge on the bookies.

But why speak for someone who’s capable of speaking for themselves? Here’s a rundown of how ChatGPT can help sports bettors, straight from the horse’s mouth:

Though this list might be a little overconfident. Aside from the fact that ChatGPT is only as useful or creative as the user’s dedication to prompt engineering, it usually insists it’s incapable of covering real-time odds when you actually ask it to do so, and only offers predictions with much reservation.

There’s also the fact that as a generative pre-trained transformer, ChatGPT is a language-model, not an all-seeing mystic with a crystal ball (tip: ignore YouTubers who claim it can pick winning lottery numbers). 

Still, sports bettors are using ChatGPT in two main areas: prediction/analysis and strategy. 

Prediction

Obviously, ChatGPT doesn’t know who’s going to win the next Champions Cup. For now, it’s only familiar with information up to 2021 (which obviously excludes the future) though you can feed it any relevant information after that. 

But AI is no stranger to predicting sports events. In 2018, the winner of the Virtual Grand National, a CGI version of the UK’s premier horse racing event, went on to win the live event as well. 

With full access to all relevant data, ChatGPT can go toe-to-toe with the best sports analysts out there. Based on a team’s recent history, as well as the history of any two given teams in a match and a few other factors, ChatGPT can predict which of them will come on top.

If, for example, you wanted to know whether AC Milan would beat Napoli on April 12, 2023,you would have some work ahead of you, feeding the bot every ounce of information it needs. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but if the bettor provides a very well-engineered prompt with detailed instructions, ChatGPT could theoretically spit out a recommendation. 

There’s only one way to find out. When given this prompt: 

ChatGPT returned this answer: 

Not a very strong recommendation, and furthermore, perhaps not very different from what a layperson — let alone a habitual sports bettor — would decide, given the information involved. Here, the utility of ChatGPT comes in more as an ability to gather data. And, after a more extended conversation, ChatGPT changed its prediction: 

The conversations took place several hours apart, with no developments in any of the relevant information. It begs the question: aside from whether or not ChatGPT can make predictions, would a savvy sports bettor even use it? And if ChatGPT’s capabilities depend on the information the user feeds it, how could you possibly know if you’ve fed it enough of the right info? Will it change its prediction along with the weather — if there are 3 mm of rain instead of 1?

In other words: so ChatGPT can make predictions. But doing something and doing it well are two different things. Is it accurate? 

Well, it’s certainly accurate enough for the bookies themselves, and numerous studies dating back to the 90’s have found AI predictions to be as much as 75% accurate. Using AI for predictive modeling has become a standard practice for sportsbooks, and quite simply, now that ChatGPT is out, punters will certainly be making use of it. As Deep Blue and AlphaGo have proven, the human mind is no match for AI when it comes to strategizing.

By the way, between ChatGPT’s two predictions, the one common thread was that the game would be close. In the end, AC Milan came out on top, 1 - 0. 

Strategy

ChatGPT’s other major application is betting strategies. 

This can be simple, such as generating a list of betting strategies for you to choose from. Or it can be very involved, such as creating a bot for arbitrage betting (which one YouTuber has actually done).

Arbitrage betting involves seeking out two bookmakers with different odds on a single match and placing bets on both sides so that you profit no matter who wins. 

Arb betting is traditionally the purview of sports fanatics with superior math skills, who can quickly scan spreadsheets and pick out the sets of odds that work in their favor. Now, though, ChatGPT can do all the heavy lifting; in fact, YouTuber Siraj Raval even used ChatGPT to create an app for arbitrage betting, complete with plug-ins for sports data APIs. Punters no longer need an advanced degree in mathematics to try and take advantage of bookmakers. 

ChatGPT often demurs when asked to grab live data, but with the proper coaxing and the right API, it could fetch live odds during matches to help bettors pit their wits against the bookies’ line. 

How can casino gamers use ChatGPT to play?

While ChatGPT’s sports betting recommendations can be pretty freewheeling, it’s a different scenario when it comes to casino table games.

Take blackjack, for example. 

Blackjack is a simple game. Either ask the dealer to deal you another card (“hit”), stay as you are, or split (splitting is when you have two cards of the same value which you “split” and play as two separate hands). The decision of whether or not to have the dealer give you another card is where the “skill” comes in. Also, AI can tell you when to double down and when to split.

Deciding to hit, stay, or split depends on your hand and the dealer’s visible card. While a memory champion might have a complete probability table at hand, mere mortals can turn to AI, report their current hand and which card the dealer is showing, and get a recommendation for what move to make. 

AI could have a similar application for poker, though trying to use it to play slots, roulette, or baccarat would be misguided. For those, the best use of AI would be to quickly search for casinos with high-RTP games and favorable bonuses.

However, ChatGPT does stop short when it comes to what it regards as “unethical” behavior, meaning it’ll stop short of leading bonus abusers to easy targets. 

What can casinos and sportsbooks do?

The AI arms race leaves casinos with no choice: fight fire with fire. 

Luckily, high-quality sports betting and casino platform software often comes with the modules companies need to block scammers from taking advantage of them. With the right AI-powered security tools, they can:

• Analyze unnatural betting patterns
• Segment players according to suspicious behavior
• Take necessary actions
• Analyze traffic for spikes in volume and multiple “bettors” coming from the same IP address
• Flag bot-type behavior

Bot-type behavior includes actions that are suspiciously smooth or efficient, like placing large numbers of bets in a row or placing a bet immediately after logging on. 

To learn more about how Slotegrator’s online casino and sportsbook platform software uses AI for your business’s advantage, get in touch for a free consultation.