Martins Lielbardis on AI in iGaming and the Human Touch

Martins Lielbardis, founder of iGaming Centre, was featured by SiGMA World and in SiGMA Magazine Issue 32 for his perspective on artificial intelligence in iGaming. Published on 10 June 2025, the feature examines where AI creates real value, where automation reaches its limits, and why human judgement remains central to sustainable industry relationships.

This article expands on the themes covered in SiGMA’s feature and explains what they mean for operators, suppliers and other iGaming businesses.

Martins Lielbardis featured by SiGMA World

The original SiGMA World feature on Martins Lielbardis and AI in iGaming accompanied SiGMA Magazine Issue 32. The magazine debuted at SiGMA BiS South America 2025 in São Paulo, placing the discussion within one of the industry’s important international meeting points.

Drawing on more than a decade in sales and business development, including extensive experience in iGaming, Martins approaches AI from a commercial and operational perspective. His view is practical: the technology can identify patterns, accelerate work and help teams understand problems, but people still provide context, trust and accountability.

Readers can also explore the SiGMA World profile on iGaming Centre and its connected event listings.

How AI is already changing iGaming

Artificial intelligence is no longer an experimental idea for the industry. It already supports content workflows, customer-service systems, operational processes, data analysis and real-time reporting. Used well, these tools help teams process more information and respond faster.

For operators, AI can highlight behavioural patterns, support customer segmentation and improve the speed of routine decisions. For suppliers, it can assist with product analysis, content production, quality assurance and market research. Game studios are also exploring AI-assisted design and development, while analytics platforms use machine learning to turn large datasets into more useful signals.

These applications share one advantage: scale. AI can examine volumes of information that would be difficult for an individual team to review manually. That creates more time for specialists to interpret results, test assumptions and decide what action makes commercial sense.

Why the human touch still matters

Efficiency alone does not create a strong customer or business relationship. In the SiGMA feature, Martins explains that “Players often seek a level of human interaction that AI alone cannot replicate.” The same principle applies to partnerships between operators, suppliers, affiliates and service providers.

An automated system may produce a personalised message, but it cannot fully understand the history of a relationship, the pressure surrounding a decision or the unspoken concerns in a negotiation. Those details often determine whether a problem is resolved and whether trust survives.

This is especially relevant in B2B iGaming, where partnerships develop across meetings, industry events and years of cooperation. Technology can help teams prepare and follow up, but meaningful relationships still depend on people who listen, exercise judgement and take responsibility for outcomes.

AI should support people, not replace them

The most useful model is a division of labour. AI handles repetitive processing and pattern detection; people define the objective, examine exceptions and make decisions with consequences.

• AI can organise information. People decide which information is relevant.
• AI can detect an unusual pattern. Specialists investigate its cause and choose a response.
• AI can draft communication. People judge its accuracy, tone and effect on the relationship.
• AI can recommend an action. Accountable teams decide whether that action is fair, lawful and commercially sensible.

This approach protects the value of automation while reducing the risk of teams treating an algorithmic output as a final answer.

AI-driven fraud, bot traffic and bonus abuse

The same technology that improves legitimate operations can also strengthen abusive activity. The SiGMA feature highlights AI-driven fraud, bot traffic and bonus abuse as growing concerns. Automated attacks can operate at speed, adapt their behaviour and create activity that appears more human.

Defence therefore requires more than a static ruleset. Operators need current monitoring, reliable identity and payment controls, clear escalation processes and analysts who can examine ambiguous cases. Automated detection is valuable, but human review remains important when a decision can block a real customer or expose the business to further loss.

The broader lesson is that adopting AI for growth without investing in security creates an incomplete strategy. Innovation and protection need to develop together.

Responsible AI adoption in iGaming

Responsible implementation begins with a clear purpose. A business should know which problem an AI system is intended to solve, what information it uses and who remains accountable for the result.

• Test outputs for accuracy before relying on them operationally.
• Apply human review to decisions that affect customers, compliance or commercial relationships.
• Protect personal and commercially sensitive data.
• Monitor systems after launch because models, threats and customer behaviour change.
• Give teams a way to question or override an automated recommendation.

These controls do not prevent innovation. They make it more dependable. Businesses gain more from AI when employees and partners can understand how it is being used and trust the process surrounding it.

What this means for iGaming businesses

Operators and suppliers do not need to choose between automation and personal service. The stronger strategy uses each where it performs best.

Start with workflows that are repetitive, measurable and easy to review. Define success before introducing a tool. Keep experienced people involved in decisions that require context, empathy or accountability. Finally, measure whether the system improves the customer or partner experience rather than evaluating it only by the amount of work automated.

Martins’s central argument remains relevant as AI adoption accelerates: technology can make iGaming businesses faster and better informed, but sustainable growth still depends on judgement, trust and real human relationships.

Read the original SiGMA feature

This commentary is based on SiGMA World’s article Martins Lielbardis on AI’s role in iGaming, written by Rami Gabriel and published on 10 June 2025. The original feature provides SiGMA’s account of Martins’s contribution to the discussion around AI, trust and responsible innovation.

For more industry conversations, browse iGaming Centre interviews.