Will artificial intelligence put me out of a job?

That’s the lingering fear some employees in the gaming industry are contemplating as rapidly evolving technology is deployed in workplaces across the globe, including in casino environments.

On the surface, the use of data, algorithms and computational power simulating cognitive functions that allow machines to operate like humans has been viewed as a good thing. AI can minimize repetitive work for math-driven calculations and can make accurate predictions about whether a gambler is showing signs of compulsive behavior when playing.

AI has become part of gaming and industry leaders have begun debating if and how it should be managed.

UNLV in May launched the Artificial Intelligence Research Hub (AiRHub) to tackle issues involving the pros and cons of AI in gaming and researchers expect to deliver papers later this year on whether regulatory guardrails should be implemented to prevent hurting consumers who play in the state’s casinos and employees who work there.

“We basically launched this initiative because we saw a little bit of a gap,” said Brett Abarbanel, executive director of UNLV’s International Gaming Institute, in a panel discussion last month on AI’s impact on the Las Vegas gaming economy, presented by the Economic Club of Las Vegas at Park MGM.

Deep dive into AI

“There wasn’t any kind of academic institution or anyone really doing a deep dive into what AI means at the company sector,” Abarbanel said. “So the Gaming Institute always had a reputation of doing independent research, providing data-driven insights for the industry throughout the course of its 35-year history. So what better thing to do with the advent of this transformative technology that is AI than to set up an initiative to provide that leadership to the industry in terms of what it means for the sector?”

Abarbanel was joined on the panel by Kasra Ghaharian, director of research at the institute and the co-author of earlier reports on AI in gaming, and Rick Arpin, managing partner, Las Vegas at KPMG, a multinational professional services company specializing in accounting.

Ghaharian and Fatemeh Binesh, a professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management, wrote in a 2025 report that AI is being used in marketing, security and to detect compulsive gambling by players.

“While AI adoption in the casino industry is still evolving, it has been used in various facets,” the report says. “For example, online gambling platforms use AI-driven analytics to create highly personalized marketing strategies, offering promotions and bonuses tailored to individual players’ habits and preferences,” the report says.

“Casino game developers are using AI to create more interactive games, and potentially the use of virtual and augmented reality in this area. And slot machine manufacturers are leveraging AI-based facial recognition technology to bolster security and compliance as well as enhance the customer experience when logging into loyalty programs.”

But the authors also said it isn’t all positive, and the industry is still learning how to use AI and meet challenges that are cropping up.

“Despite its potential, the adoption of AI in casinos faces challenges, such as resistance to change, infrastructure limitations and legal challenges,” the report says.

“Digitization of the gambling product has evolved both the gambler’s experience and the business’ operations. Slot machines now include a vast array of designs with engaging visual displays, with back-end software allowing for the collection of granular bet-by-bet information. The internet has allowed consumers on-demand gambling access, and online operators can easily track these players’ behaviors, including how much they bet, how often and which games they play.

AI and responsible gaming

“AI can enhance responsible gambling by detecting problematic behaviors early and offering personalized interventions,” the report says. “AI algorithms can analyze player data to identify patterns indicative of gambling addiction to enable timely support. This has led to the creation of strategies that seek to prevent gambling-related harms, including the implementation of responsible gambling tools such as limit-setting, mandatory play breaks, cooling-off periods, pop-up messaging, personalized messaging and self-exclusion programs.”

But what’s worrisome is that offshore casino operations may instead exploit a compulsive gambler instead of helping.

The panelists participating in the Economic Club event said AI could also be used as a tool to monitor and protect sports integrity by identifying prospective point-shaving and game-fixing scandals well before sportsbook operators could spot them. Abarbanel indicated discovering game-fixing scandals can sometimes lead to even bigger criminal violations.

“You may have noticed quite a few headlines recently in terms of scandals, some even as recently as last week and the other day around the NCAA,” Abarbanel said in the panel discussion. “You may have noticed the huge scandal around possible mob-run poker games associated with different NFL players, different MLB players who have been suspended because they’ve been found to be gambling. All of these things play into this bigger sphere of what sport integrity is and can mean, whether that’s fixing an entire game, whether that’s doing something like point shaving, spot fixing, where you’re fixing just a single element within it that could be tied to something in a proposition bet.”

Panelists also discussed concerns some casino workers have that they could lose their jobs if some AI applications are capable of thinning the workforce.

In most work sectors, the deployment of AI technology increases productivity and reduces repetitive work. Those pluses are why some casino IT departments are enthusiastic about implementing the use of AI in their workforces.

Can AI cut jobs?

Still, there are lingering concerns that implementing AI will put some people out of their jobs.

Panelists concurred that most jobs are safe because live entertainment, including casino gambling, is a social activity that will be hard for a machine to replicate.

Arpin is convinced human interaction will continue to thrive within casinos because that’s why people enjoy them.

“The reason I go back to that is because this has been studied quite extensively and so there’s a reason live entertainment has thrived regardless of some of the trends in the last 20 or 30 years,” Arpin said. “There’s a reason that sports is one of the last live television experiences that is sought after. There’s a reason that whether it’s Las Vegas or other casinos or other tourist destinations will continue to thrive. It’s because humans like to gather and humans like interhuman experience.”

The need for human interaction was fortified by the COVID-19 pandemic experience. While many enjoy the freedom of working from home, many companies have reopened their workplaces so that employees can interact.

“I know that some of you have teenagers who are on their headphones and devices all day, and some of you have 25-year-olds working for you who grew up in a generation of text messaging,” Arpin said. “But some of those 25-year-olds are now 30-year-olds going, ‘Geez, that COVID thing really sucked. I want to be back in the office and with people and I want to learn from interpersonal experience. And last time I checked, other than during COVID when we literally couldn’t go to a resort, we’re still here.”

Arpin believes that like every other time Las Vegas has been threatened by potential market changes — like when gaming was legalized in New Jersey, when riverboat casinos were first introduced, when tribal casinos sprang up across the country — that Las Vegas reinvented itself to meet the challenges. He’s also convinced that last year’s downturn in tourism is the result of other factors and not AI.

“You can gather at a resort that has a 50-person stadium roulette game instead of individual roulette tables because that’s more efficient and still brings a great experience and casinos love it and customers love it,” Arpin said. “So do you need a few less dealers? Yeah, but you still need dealers, you still need people on the floor and people bringing drinks and all that stuff. Is getting a drink from a robot as fun as getting it from a person? As far as I can tell, no, and not for the foreseeable future.

“I will say maybe that changes, but like people want to gather, people want interpersonal experiences. And so Las Vegas, just like it has reinvented itself dozens of times in the last 80 years, will reinvent itself as needed to address that.”

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