AI

UNLV’s PGA Golf Management University Program partners with Las Vegas-based AI technology company Evenplay to study the effects of rewards on skill level

Published

12 months ago

March 17, 2025

unlv’s-pga-golf-management-university-program-partners-with-las-vegas-based-ai-technology-company-evenplay-to-study-the-effects-of-rewards-on-skill-level

There’s a timeless adage from NBA great Allen Iverson: “Practice?!” But now, almost ironically, AI (that is, Artificial Intelligence) will be helping us replicate big-time pressure in that very scenario.

Evenplay, an AI technology company based out of Las Vegas, has created a patented golf simulator application that creates challenges for all skill levels, with the intention of improving play performance through the use of cash rewards.

“What we have is a machine-learning algorithm that takes all of your shot data and says, ‘What are you going to do next from 175 yards?,’ and creates targets personalized for your skill level with money on the line,” said Sameer Gupta, co-founder of Evenplay. “If you practice with pressure, you’re probably going to get better faster.”

UNLV has partnered with Evenplay, taking on the task of studying the impact of rewards on skill level, and how well this experience translates the gains from practice into practical use on the real course.

“It sounded like a good opportunity to build a relationship and a bridge with this company,” said Chris Cain, director of the PGA Golf Management University Program within UNLV’s Harrah College of Hospitality. “And to see if we can continue to advance off-course golf, improve diversity in the consumer base, and think a little bit differently and daring, which is what UNLV’s all about.”

Upping the Ante on Research

The ability to create a feedback loop – one where you practice in the same conditions as when something’s on the line – is the goal: replicating the jitters that come from staring down a big putt, and then training yourself to handle the pressure before you step onto the course.

Evenplay does this by paying out money depending on the shot, using rewards as a way to create real stress in a controlled setting.

“What we have is a turn-key stress generator,” said Gupta. “Our model projects a thousand shots from every distance, with a target drawn where about half of your shots should be capable of landing. We’ve taken a skill-based activity and are able to predict what you will do next.”

The study at UNLV uses a more controlled version of the wagers. Randomly selected participants will receive various payouts such as lesson or UNLV Gift certificates based on their group assignments and the level of contributions to the study.

“This is a skill-based gaming application that allows someone to make a bet and have fun doing it,” said Cain. “What we’re doing at UNLV is seeing if the variable payouts influence program retention – do they play longer or more often? Does this also influence skill improvement? Wouldn’t it be cool to have some sort of technology in place that actually uses gaming as a way to positively influence skill improvement?”

The study is made possible through UNLV’s Sports Innovation Institute (SII), and the College of Hospitality’s Center for Golf Management, in collaboration with the university’s International Gaming Institute. The SII acts as a hub for all of the faculty who do research in sports, enabling them to work together to find solutions to problems and advance the commercialization of products fitting that criteria.

“With Evenplay’s expertise, as well as the Sports Innovation and the International Gaming institutes, that trifecta makes for a pretty special partnership here in Las Vegas,” Cain said. “There are thousands of data points in every swing that UNLV is looking forward to analyzing to see if this really changes the way we practice.”

Growing the Game

It’s no secret that the game of golf is expensive and often exclusive. The National Golf Foundation estimates the cost of a full round at a public course in the U.S. was $43 in 2023. That’s just getting on the course. When you add hundreds and thousands of dollars into equipment costs, training, and lessons, the financial barrier to entry becomes quite imposing.

“There are about 120 million people interested in the game and only 45 million participating,” said Cain. “Technology’s going to help close that gap, and being able to take lessons without being on the golf course will be part of the future, making it more inclusive, accessible, and affordable.”

Improving the accessibility of the game is one of the desired outcomes for the research, potentially showing a greater translation of the skills developed in a simulator using Evenplay to the course itself.

“It’s winter right now – nobody’s taking swings on green golf courses in Chicago,” said Gupta. “All of those players are using simulators indoors. We’re growing the amount of people who can engage with golf by changing how often people can meaningfully play the sport at all times of the year.”

Changing the game doesn’t end with golf. The patent for Evenplay features a baseball player swinging a bat, and the plan is to roll into bowling next. Its partnership and ongoing study with UNLV is only expediting the interest in this potential shakeup to the practice session.

“The ability of UNLV to effectively structure a relationship with the PGA is very impressive and unique in the market,” said Gupta. “And bringing that knowledge to a private company like ours is essential to our growth.”

The results of Evenplay’s efficacy in providing measurable improvement to player skill will be shared as the study concludes later this year.

The post UNLV’s PGA Golf Management University Program partners with Las Vegas-based AI technology company Evenplay to study the effects of rewards on skill level appeared first on Gaming and Gambling Industry in the Americas.

Up Next

BGaming Expands into Brazil with Pixbet Partnership

Don't Miss

CreedRoomz Takes Part in SAGSE LatAm 2025

AI

Despite AI’s Rise, Fraud Teams Keep Growing — SEON 2026 Report

Published

4 days ago

March 4, 2026

Wladimir P.

despite-ai’s-rise,-fraud-teams-keep-growing-—-seon-2026-report

SEON, the command centre for immediate Fraud Prevention and AML Compliance, has unveiled AI Reality Check: 2026 Fraud & AML Leaders Report, the second iteration of its sector research, derived from a worldwide survey of 1,010 leaders in fraud, risk, and compliance spanning payments, fintech, financial services, retail, eCommerce, and gaming.

The figures reveal an unforeseen narrative: AI is ubiquitous, yet operations are not becoming easier to manage. Currently, 98% of organizations utilize AI in fraud and AML processes, with 95% expressing confidence in its effectiveness; meanwhile, headcount plans rose from 88% to 94% year-over-year, and 83% anticipate budget increases in 2026.

Complexity Is Surpassing Automation

AI has not lessened the workload — it has revealed the extent of work that has always existed. Fraud losses are increasingly approaching revenue growth, threats are advancing more rapidly, and disjointed systems restrict the true potential of AI at scale. Key year-over-year shift:

Leadership’s confidence in their teams’ performance is lagging. The number of leaders who disagreed with the statement, “fraud losses are growing faster than revenue,” dropped by almost 40% from the previous year

Inside the Numbers:

AI is baseline, not experimental

98% already integrate AI into daily workflows (only 2% still planning)
95% are confident AI can detect and prevent fraud (52% very confident)
Top use case: AI/ML for transaction monitoring (30%)

Fraud and AML investment keeps climbing

83% expect fraud/AML budgets to increase in 2026
94% plan to add at least one full-time hire (up from 88% in 2025)
85% plan to add a vendor, 49% plan to replace one

Fragmentation is the bottleneck

95% claim “some integration” between fraud and AML systems
Only 47% run fully integrated workflows; the rest rely on partial connections
80% say getting a unified view of data is challenging

For many, time-to-value remains slow

Only 10% go live in under two weeks
38% take 1–3 months, 24% take 4+ months
When implementations run long, top impacts include increased costs (52%) and prolonged fraud exposure (47%)

Teams are growing, not shrinking

94% plan to increase headcount despite automation gains
85% see AI agents as support/augmentation, not replacement (only 12% see eventual replacement)

Top fraud threats reported:

Account takeovers: 26%
Promo/discount abuse: 18%
Return fraud: 18%

“Fraud and financial crime were supposed to become more manageable as AI matured,” said Tamas Kadar, CEO and co-founder, SEON. “Instead, 2026 is the year leaders are confronting a more complicated reality. AI adoption is real, confidence is high, but the scale and pace of fraud — compounded by fragmented systems — continue to drive increased investment rather than reduced overhead. The bottleneck is no longer whether AI works. It’s everything around it: disconnected data, siloed teams, slow implementations. The organisations that pull ahead will be the ones that unify fraud and AML intelligence, shorten the distance between threats and controls, and treat integration as strategy, not plumbing.”

Fast-Growing Companies Invest in Integration Early

Organisations growing 51%+ are nearly twice as likely as slower peers to report that achieving unified visibility is “not very challenging.” They treat integration as infrastructure, not an IT project.

What’s Next: From “Does AI Work?” to “Can We Trust It?”

With adoption near-universal, the conversation is shifting to governance, explainability and accountability:

78% say decentralised digital identity will become central to fraud/AML
33% cite data privacy regulations (GDPR, CCPA) as the biggest external force shaping AML
25% point to criminals’ advancing use of AI and obfuscation techniques

The post Despite AI’s Rise, Fraud Teams Keep Growing — SEON 2026 Report appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

AI

BetConstruct AI Charts a New Course for Brazil’s iGaming Market at SBC Summit Rio 2026

Published

1 week ago

February 26, 2026

Wladimir P.

betconstruct-ai-charts-a-new-course-for-brazil’s-igaming-market-at-sbc-summit-rio-2026

BetConstruct AI is thrilled to share its involvement in the SBC Summit Rio 2026, taking place from March 4-5 at the Riocentro in Rio de Janeiro. As Brazil enters its second year of complete regulation, BetConstruct AI emerges at this critical market moment to present a vision of technological empowerment and strategic independence.

At Stand A230, attendees will find an extensive range of AI-powered solutions tailored to satisfy the expectations of the Brazilian crowd. The exhibition highlights the top-tier Sportsbook and Casino Platforms, designed to expand quickly while ensuring peak performance levels.

Apart from the main platforms, BetConstruct AI supplies the necessary framework for a leading online brand. This encompasses CMS Pro, a tailored content management system that enables operators to oversee their complete business from one unified platform, and SpringBuilder X, our mobile-centric, SEO-focused drag-and-drop website creator that removes the necessity for technical expertise. Advancing customization, BetChain AI provides an innovative method to design and develop iGaming sites more efficiently and intelligently, granting partners complete creative authority. These essential tools are crafted to operate in complete synergy with our advanced intelligence layer, establishing a smooth connection between an impressive user interface and intricate back-end automation.

At the heart of the exhibition lies the BetConstruct AI Suite, an advanced set of tools designed to streamline and enhance the operator’s experience.
This encompasses:

●CRM AI: Delivering deep behavioral insights to enhance player retention.
●Umbrella AI: Providing real-time risk management and automated player protection.
●AI Game Recommendation System: Ensuring personalized content delivery to maximize engagement.
●Betting Mate: An intuitive AI companion that elevates the player experience with real-time stats and insights.

Demonstrating its dedication to the long-term success of the Brazilian market, BetConstruct AI will emphasize its unique “The Choice to Grow” initiative. This performance-driven program aims to incentivize partners that reach a 16.67% growth in GGR each quarter. Achieving these goals across a wide array of products – such as Sportsbook, Virtual Sports, and partner brands like PopOK Gaming and CreedRoomz – enables operators to receive a 51% invoice discount every third month, plus exclusive service advantages and tournament participation.

BetConstruct AI encourages all industry stakeholders, operators, and media representatives to stop by Stand A230 at Riocentro. The team will be present during the summit to showcase how a connected, AI-driven ecosystem enables partners to select the route of innovation, efficiency, and market leadership in the Brazilian market.

The post BetConstruct AI Charts a New Course for Brazil’s iGaming Market at SBC Summit Rio 2026 appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

AI

PEC.BET Partners with Tugi Tark to Strengthen Sportsbook Offerings

Published

1 week ago

February 26, 2026

Wladimir P.

pec.bet-partners-with-tugi-tark-to-strengthen-sportsbook-offerings

AI-driven customer support company Tugi Tark has revealed a collaboration with PEC.BET, a recently established sportsbook and online casino operator that offers players access to various bookmakers via a single account. The collaboration integrates Tugi Tark’s customer support system and iGaming-focused AI agents into PEC.BET’s player assistance operations as the operator launches in the market.

PEC.BET functions on a cutting-edge multi-bookmaker sportsbook system that embraces winners. Grounded in transparency and accessibility, PEC.BET recognized customer service infrastructure as a critical operational focus from the outset and chose Tugi Tark for this purpose to create its support system.

“As a new operator, it was important for us to put the right operational foundations in place from the beginning,” said a spokesperson PEC.BET. “Our multi-bookmaker model means we welcome winners, which shapes how we approach player relationships. Working with Tugi Tark allows us to support players efficiently while ensuring our internal team remains focused on more complex player matters and VIP care.”

Tugi Tark’s AI platform for customer service offers PEC.BET a unified space to oversee player assistance through various channels. AI agents help with initial resolutions, while more complicated issues are forwarded to support personnel. This method allows PEC.BET to uphold consistent service while adjusting to rising demand as the operator expands.

“PEC.BET is entering the market with a clear focus on transparency and accessibility for players,” said Harpo Lilja, CEO of Tugi Tark. “Our role is to provide a support layer that can operate consistently from day one and scale alongside the platform as it grows.”

The post PEC.BET Partners with Tugi Tark to Strengthen Sportsbook Offerings appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.