OPINION: Will AI fuel problem gambling at Mohegan Sun?

November 09, 2024 2:00 pm
• Last Updated: November 09, 2024 5:25 pm

I remember when casino gambling debuted here in the early ’90s, first with Foxwoods Resort Casino.

There was a lot of angst about the potential impacts on this rural area, with worries about gambling addiction and increased crime. There was also a lot of relief then about the impact all those new casino jobs would have on the region’s struggling economy, reeling at the time by submarine-building cuts.

I don’t think an inordinate amount of eastern Connecticut crime has ever been traced to the casinos. Sure, there’s been some casino campus crime, a little prostitution, employee and white collar theft and a fair amount of cheating, which the casinos are really good at ferreting out.

There have been some hefty embezzlements linked to problem gambling, including the arrest almost 20 years ago of the Ledyard tax collector, who became the first of a series of New England tax collectors charged in connection with stealing to support gambling habits at Connecticut casinos.

I couldn’t help but remember recently that first tax collector embezzlement case, which I covered, when I read recently about Mohegan Sun announcing its planned use of artificial intelligence at its casinos.

It strikes me as supercharging the casino’s existing use of data and electronic stimulation to keep players hooked on their slot machines.

The Ledyard embezzlement case brought into the open, through court records, evidence of the incredible surveillance to which the casinos routinely subject customers. I was surprised to learn exactly how much they know about a player’s gambling habits.

The police investigation report from the Ledyard collector case included extensive printouts showing precisely when she sat down at a slot machine and how much money she put in. She was there practically every day for astonishingly long periods of time. They knew exactly how she responded to winning and losing streaks at the machines, clues as to how to make her gamble more.

And that was the state of the early technology, almost two decades ago.

Mohegan Sun made only a broad suggestion in its press release of how it will use AI-driven modules “across slots, marketing and player development” programs in a way to support “strategic business goals.”

I’m sure it’s meant to crunch data, enhance the addictive quality of the machines, improve the immersive, entertainment experience and make you gamble more. That’s certainly the business goal of a casino.

The General Assembly recently considered a bill that would have begun to regulate AI in Connecticut, but it died when Gov. Ned Lamont threatened a veto, saying it would make the state less welcoming to new business.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has already addressed the worrisome addiction opportunities of using AI in gambling settings and has proposed regulatory legislation, which hasn’t moved.

A new gambling addiction study paid for by Connecticut indicates the slice of the population with gambling addiction problems, 1.8%, has remained steady recently and is lower than it has been in the more distant past.

That’s encouraging.

Still, I wonder whether unleashing the power of AI on a business aimed at manipulating their customers into losing money isn’t an especially worrisome development in this new technology frontier.

After all, when the tax collectors steal to support a gambling problem, they are taking from all of us.

This is the opinion of David Collins

d.collins@theday.com