It’s live! Access exclusive 2026 AI live chat benchmarks & see how your team stacks up.
Unlock the insights
A new series of industry research from SBC Media and Comm100 surveyed sportsbook and iGaming operators worldwide about their customer support operations. The findings expose a striking paradox at the heart of the industry: operators understand that customer support drives retention and compliance yet consistently underinvest in it compared to acquisition channels.
These three reports examine player support from distinct angles. One focuses on responsible gambling compliance. Another explores the tension between acquisition and retention spending. The third investigates AI adoption timelines and concerns. Together, they paint a comprehensive picture of an industry at an inflection point.
Download the reports here:
The data reveals a clear disconnect between what operators believe and how they allocate budgets. When asked to rank their top areas of player acquisition and retention spend, customer support operations landed dead last. Only 5% of operators named it their top priority, while 35% said it was their lowest.
Yet these same operators would cut support last if budgets tightened. Only 10% would reduce support spending first during constraints, compared to 40% who would cut paid acquisition. This contradiction suggests operators view support as essential infrastructure rather than optional enhancement, but that recognition hasn’t translated into proactive investment.
The reluctance to invest appears connected to measurement challenges:
Most operators depend on lagging indicators rather than forward-looking metrics that link support interactions to revenue outcomes. When asked what would justify increased investment, 70% said demonstrated impact on lifetime value. This creates a circular problem: operators want proof before investing, but they haven’t built the attribution systems needed to generate that proof.
Every single operator surveyed confirms that their support agents receive training on responsible gaming behaviors and intervention. This 100% figure indicates strong industry commitment to educating frontline staff on identifying and responding to problem gambling indicators.
The AI implementation tells a more complicated story. More than half of operators (55.2%) cite limited integration with RG systems as their biggest challenge. Support teams may be well trained, but their tools operate in silos.
When a player exhibits risky behavior during a chat session, that signal may not reach the compliance team, the RG specialists, or the systems that should trigger intervention workflows.
Manual monitoring dominates detection efforts:
This reactive approach creates bottlenecks that limit scalability. Support supervisors cannot manually review every conversation during peak periods, which means warning signs inevitably slip through.
The consequences of fragmentation extend beyond operational inefficiency. Thirty percent of operators don’t currently provide access to RG counselors and support services through their support platforms.
Among those that do offer access, 51.7% depend on human agents to suggest and deliver referrals rather than automated routing. When agent judgment is the only safety net, training gaps or simple human error can delay critical interventions.
Survey respondents articulated sophisticated understanding of what their support functions should do. They identified speed of issue resolution (70%) and personalized care for high-value players (65%) as the primary ways support contributes to retention. They recognized that 24/7 availability matters for global operations and that automation could free human agents for complex cases.
The technology wish list for responsible gambling is equally specific:
For retention, operators want visibility into early behavioral indicators that predict churn, subtle declines in betting frequency and stake sizes, and data on how players respond to CRM campaigns over time.
Current capabilities lag behind these aspirations. Only 35% use real-time sentiment or behavioral analysis to identify frustrated or at-risk players.
Most retention strategies remain skewed toward financial incentives: 95% of operators run bonus and promo programs, while 70% maintain tiered loyalty or VIP schemes. These tactics are easily replicated by competitors and don’t address the root causes of player departure.
The low adoption of automation for common queries stands out as a missed opportunity. Just 25% of operators identified this capability as an important retention tool. Yet handling repetitive questions automatically would free experienced agents to focus on VIP relationships and complex cases where human judgment genuinely matters.
Zero operators said they weren’t considering AI for support. Not one. This universal interest reflects both the technology’s maturation and the industry’s cost pressures from rising regulatory burdens and taxation.
The adoption curve has already begun its steep climb:
Within 24 months, AI-powered support will likely shift from competitive differentiator to baseline expectation across the sector.
Confidence levels vary sharply by task type and player value. For proactive engagement like onboarding, explaining game rules, and pushing promotions, 65.2% trust AI agents to handle the work. Simple reactive help (password resets, limit setting, technical issues) and moderate reactive help (deposit and withdrawal queries) also score above 56%.
The drop-off for sensitive cases is dramatic:
Player segmentation follows a similar pattern. Operators trust AI to handle 78.3% of casual players and 73.9% of active players. VIPs remain firmly in human hands. This value-volume divide makes operational sense: automate where interaction volume threatens to overwhelm capacity, retain human control where relationship value justifies premium service costs.
The primary fears center on quality rather than cost or complexity:
Deployment complexity and cost predictability registered as secondary concerns. Regulatory risk barely made the list at 4.3%. This low percentage seems surprising given the heavily regulated nature of gambling markets, but it reveals something important: operators worry less about regulators prohibiting AI than about AI creating compliance violations through mistakes.
The misinformation concern connects directly to regulatory exposure. An AI agent that provides incorrect information about deposit limits, bonus terms, or responsible gambling resources could trigger regulatory scrutiny.
Smart operators will treat accuracy and guardrails as both operational necessities and regulatory insurance, implementing standards that exceed current requirements because they anticipate where regulations will eventually land.
When asked to describe a good AI-powered support experience from a player’s perspective, three interconnected themes emerged across responses.
Human-like qualities. Operators want AI that produces interactions “seamless and not noticeable compared to human interaction,” making it difficult to “determine between AI and what a customer service representative would do.”
Speed and accuracy. The AI agent needs to deliver “fast, accurate responses” and provide “correct answers supplied quickly” without errors that force escalation or repeat contacts.
Personalization and context. A good AI agent must “know your behaviour, i.e. are you a casino player or sportsbook player” and pre-determine the customer’s question to answer it quickly in their preferred language.
These criteria suggest players don’t object to AI handling their support queries. They object to bad support that happens to come from AI. The technology itself isn’t the barrier. Execution quality is.
The near-term future appears settled:
This consensus around hybrid models reflects practical realism. Wholesale replacement of human support isn’t feasible for sensitive cases, and operators don’t trust current AI capabilities for their most valuable relationships. The transition will happen task by task, segment by segment, with human agents retrained from frontline support to specialist roles in complex case management, responsible gambling intervention, and VIP relationship management.
The expected ROI distribution reinforces this gradual approach. Operators anticipate the biggest returns from headcount savings (47.8%) and reduced churn through faster support (43.5%). Improved VIP experience didn’t register as a primary ROI driver, confirming that operators see AI as an efficiency tool for volume handling rather than a relationship enhancement for premium segments.
Discover how leading operators reduce churn, increase player lifetime value, and scale support operations with AI-powered chat and intelligent routing.
View demoSeveral gaps in current thinking emerged across the three surveys.
Concerns about job security are natural when automation expands. Whether the message emphasizes cost reduction, improved service, revenue contribution, or some combination will shape internal buy-in and execution quality.
The circular problem of wanting proof before investing requires new measurement approaches. Operators need systems that link support interactions to retention outcomes and lifetime value changes, not just satisfaction scores.
The reluctance to trust AI with RG queries is understandable, but manual-only approaches create capacity constraints. The industry needs hybrid workflows that use AI for detection and routing while keeping human judgment central to intervention decisions.
Early movers who solve the human-like experience challenge will capture efficiency gains without suffering churn penalties. Laggards may find themselves paying human agent costs to match service levels that competitors achieve through automation.
The iGaming industry recognizes that customer support drives retention and compliance outcomes. It understands that AI can solve persistent challenges around availability, scalability, and cost efficiency. It has started deploying technology and building internal capabilities.
What remains is execution. The operators who close the gap between recognition and investment, between siloed systems and integrated workflows, between manual monitoring and AI-assisted detection, will define the next era of player experience in online gambling. The research suggests the window for differentiation may be narrower than expected. Within two years, baseline expectations will shift. The question for operators isn’t whether to adopt AI-powered support, but how quickly they can do it well.
By clicking "Subscribe", you agree to our Privacy Policy.
Comm100 has spent more than 15 years at the forefront of customer support technology. Products have come and gone. Some we iterated on, + Read More about our approach to ai at comm100
Healthcare institutions face a difficult balancing act: patients expect instant, 24/7 digital support, but federal regulations demand airtight protection of their most sensitive + Read More about the best hipaa-compliant chatbots for healthcare in 2026
Arizona legalized sports betting in April 2021 through House Bill 2772, launching retail and mobile betting on September 9, 2021. The state’s regulatory + Read More about arizona responsible gambling: rules, regulations & guidelines
