For online casino and gambling firms, customer verification and monitoring (known in the business as KYC or Know Your Customer checks) are an integral part of operations. In regulated local markets, regulators require them. Offshore casinos need them because they are a big global target for fraud. However, for players, they are mostly a pain point in the customer journey. So, gambling operators have focused on making the process as fast as possible.
In the modern day, AI has enabled both sides of this ongoing cat-and-mouse game to move more quickly and efficiently. While some casinos now offer verification in just minutes through AI-scanning tools, AI deepfakes and image manipulation have led to a rise in scams and fraud, ranging from players making multiple accounts to stealing millions from operators in sophisticated attacks.
From the customer’s point of view, this mostly just means faster document processing and more personalized, targeted casino offers in their inbox. But for operators, it is an existential race to protect themselves against both regulatory pressure and scammers. This is what you need to know about it.
Why verification matters for regulators and operators
There are many reasons why casinos want or need to verify their customers’ identities. These include:
- Age verification
- Anti-money laundering
- Fraud detection (multiple accounts, fake IDs, etc.)
- Responsible gambling and income checks
- Self-exclusion checks (for gamblers who have excluded themselves across a network or jurisdiction)
For one example, consider online slot bonus offers. Online slot games and their associated bonuses are a staple of online casino gaming. Some $200 billion is wagered annually on online slots in the US – just across the seven regulated states – with operators holding onto around $10 billion of that as revenues.
Increasingly, players exploring real money slots turn to review sites to see what the latest games are and where to play them, as well as the bonus offers across various operators. These comparative resources show just how many offers and games are available, and how much detail players like to look into before selecting a game or casino.
That kind of market complexity and scale will always attract fraudsters. There are (very roughly) at least several hundred million slot spins daily across US casinos. Potentially towards a billion. And there is no way to effectively monitor that many transactions without some kind of automation.
And monitoring it is important. One study recently estimated that around 7% of casino bets worldwide may be linked to fraud.
Algorithms to monitor for all this have existed for years. However, machine-learning AI systems are far more adaptable and can spot patterns that algorithms wouldn’t be capable of even looking for without being programmed to. They can also be a one-stop solution. Instead of having multiple algorithms to monitor different things, one AI system can monitor a whole lot from one central hub.
The rise of high-tech gambling fraud
According to some studies, 83% of online gambling operators globally reported at least one fraud attempt in 2025. Fraud has always been a problem – but in recent years, it has become somewhat of an AI battleground.
Mass-market generative AI tools allow fraudsters to create on-surface convincing documents and even entire fake identities. According to one study in 2025, 78% of online casino operators said they had received AI-generated fake documents from would-be customers.
However, operators have increasingly been employing AI of their own in the identification process. How good any one AI is at identifying work of another AI is up for debate and sometimes not well understood – but they are being used against each other, right now, in a digital arms race.
It’s not just documents, though. AI-using scammers are increasingly turning to deepfake videos to fool facial scanning technology, or voice cloning software to fool actual employees behind the scenes.
But companies and law enforcement are fighting back. There is a lot of investment and time being poured into increasing public awareness of this kind of thing, as well as specialized training for employees in how to recognize AI-powered fraud techniques. Once again, though, AI can also be used in this field.
How casinos are also using AI to counter it
Most casino fans might not even be aware, but modern AI systems are constantly monitoring account activity. If something changes in your deposit patterns, device location or your general gameplay, systems will flag this up for a human compliance officer to look at.
This could be for reasons of problem gambling monitoring, suspicious account activity or bonus abuse, money laundering or even just technological glitches.
For example, if multiple accounts were created to claim a welcome bonus from the same IP, this would likely get flagged. For another example, if a player who had previously only ever deposited $10 a month from Pennsylvania suddenly appeared in Michigan depositing $1000 a time, the AI would flag this up too.
This is the kind of info that a compliance team can dig up, too, but with hundreds of millions of transactions occurring daily, it’s almost impossible to monitor all of them without AI assistance. So don’t expect it to go away anytime soon.
This content is provided for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional advice. AFP editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
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