UNLV and KPMG Report Finds Land-Based Casinos Lagging on AI Adoption, but Potential Is ‘Transformative’

Land-based casino operators are meaningfully behind online gaming companies and suppliers when it comes to adopting artificial intelligence, according to findings presented at the 19th International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The research, drawn from a survey of 83 gambling companies conducted by the UNLV International Gaming Institute in collaboration with KPMG, found that the online side of the industry is far ahead on AI implementation across both customer-facing and operational applications. Despite that lag, panelists at the conference expressed strong optimism about AI’s long-term potential to transform casino operations and guest experiences.

Rick Arpin, US gaming leader and Las Vegas managing partner for KPMG and the session’s moderator, noted that the report found the industry’s AI use is currently more inward-facing, skewed toward back-of-house efficiency and technology systems rather than customer experience or regulatory compliance. Station Casinos CIO C.J. Foster identified people, process, and technology as the three main barriers land-based operators face in accelerating AI adoption. He pointed out that the regulated nature of casino operations makes it harder to move quickly on system changes, and that finding staff with sufficient AI skills remains difficult.

What AI Could Do for Casino Operations

Panelists highlighted database marketing and customer segmentation as among the most immediately valuable near-term applications for AI in land-based casinos. Foster described excitement about using AI for hyper-personalized database marketing that could allow casinos to communicate with individual guests in ways that match their specific preferences and history rather than relying on broad demographic segments. Lori Kobashigawa, senior vice president of marketing and innovation at Fontainebleau Las Vegas, said her property is focused on both back-of-house AI use and the guest-facing experience, particularly leveraging real-time data to personalize the guest journey from arrival through departure.

Patrick Miller, a hospitality and casino executive on the panel, noted that integrated resorts are essentially operating multiple distinct businesses simultaneously — hotel, food and beverage, gaming, entertainment, legal — and that AI advances are happening across all of those verticals at once. He argued that consumers themselves are moving faster than operators in terms of how they are incorporating AI tools into their planning and behavior, including using AI to book rooms, build itineraries, and research experiences. Operators who are not attentive to how their guests are engaging with AI tools risk falling behind in understanding their own customers.

The Hold-and-Spin Parallel

The conference also featured a session on casino game design trends that offered an interesting parallel to the AI discussion. Slot manufacturers have increasingly moved toward simpler, more ritualistic mechanics such as hold-and-spin and cash-on-reels after years of experimenting with complex branded themes tied to movies and television shows. More than 40 percent of games on current casino floors now use hold-and-spin mechanics, according to session panelists, because these mechanics are easy for players to understand quickly and create strong engagement through familiar patterns. The trend suggests that in both game design and technology, the casino industry is gravitating toward approaches that reduce friction and prioritize the user experience.

Arpin made a point that tends to get overlooked in broader AI conversations: the significant potential of AI for regulatory compliance. He noted that while there is natural concern about whether regulators would permit AI systems to influence gaming operations, regulators themselves could benefit from AI tools for monitoring and enforcement. For the casino industry as a whole, the key challenge is building the internal talent, process infrastructure, and regulatory relationships necessary to deploy AI responsibly at scale — a challenge that online gaming companies, without the same legacy infrastructure burdens, have found significantly easier to navigate. The gap documented in the UNLV-KPMG report may narrow considerably over the next several years as AI tools become more accessible and land-based operators gain confidence in applying them.