The task of balancing the excitement around the transformational potential of artificial intelligence with the need to develop solutions capable of driving profitability is one that is giving many executives sleepless nights. But it is a challenge that Kyrylo Aistrakhanov, chief technology officer of PIN-UP.TECH, relishes.
Speaking at PIN-UP’s vast booth during SBC Summit in Lisbon, where his team met with tech experts from around the world, Aistrakhanov details how he is driving the brand’s goal to be one of the most technologically-advanced businesses in the igaming industry.
The diverse nature of the PIN-UP Global empire means the tech division’s core project is a customisable platform that can be configured to work within the restrictions of any regulated market the brand launches in. It is the basis of everything the organisation does.
A self-described “tech guy, a product guy”, the challenge of delivering a solution that not only works in multiple markets today, but can also be scaled and adapted as markets evolve and new technology emerges is clearly something that excites Aistrakhanov.
“We are ready for change and as the business moves forward, the tech side is prepared for that growth,” he said.
His plans extend well beyond just producing another sportsbook and igaming platform that has the same value proposition as the array of third-party products already available. The PIN-UP.TECH team is determined to help the brand create a competitive advantage and to do that the company has “made a bet” on cutting-edge technologies by forming its own AI and ML department, which will evaluate how they can move from mere buzzwords to being implemented as highly-effective tools.
Looking beyond the AI hype
When assessing the impact of artificial intelligence in the igaming industry, it can be difficult to separate the hype from the genuine benefits, such are the scale of the claims made by some technology suppliers. Aistrakhanov appears more grounded than most on the subject of what can be achieved and when the technology’s full potential can be realised.
“Data and AI really require time,” he explained. “You need to have historical data, you need to provide it to your team, you need to hire specialists. So it’s a really big investment, and it really is about the time needed to see the impact.
“It’s not just about launching a casino or a new integration and checking the numbers. The investments are like a waterfall model and after some time you will notice the impact of it. So it’s a big challenge to find the balance between the strategy and the level of the revenue.”
While Aistrakhanov readily accepts that harnessing the full benefits of this rapidly developing tech phenomenon is going to require patience and diligence, he is in no doubt that it will have a transformational effect on PIN-UP and the wider industry.
“Gaming stands for entertainment, so we must compete with other entertainment providers and platforms, such as social media and streaming services. They have all adopted AI recommendation systems,” he said. “I think the next thing [for gaming] will be adopting AI recommendation models, as well as AI systems, AI agents and automated scripted customer support in operations. All this will, of course, be based on a data-driven approach.”
For PIN-UP.TECH, this approach is underscored by extensive A/B testing to determine the efficacy of products. Recommendation engines are one area that have undergone particularly thorough testing, as Aistrakhanov believes they can be key to player retention, even in tough markets.
“Where traffic acquisition is limited or traffic quality is lower, everyone will notice that retention is crucial,” he explained. ”For things like gamification and recommendations, which are key to retention, AI can be very flexible. It allows us to work with different player segments and different channels and utilise the data to make decisions that drive retention.”
This approach of working towards specific outcomes is representative of Aistrakhanov’s belief that technological development should not take place simply for the sake of demonstrating what the latest tech is capable of. He is instead very focused on producing products that contribute to the bottom line.
“For AI and ML, I think on the Gartner Hype Cycle, we may now be at the peak of expectations, because the technology is really revolutionary,” he admitted. “But I’ve noticed a lot of companies have struggled with the integration of these technologies because some providers supply solutions that might be nice looking on the pitch deck, but when it comes to real production, the numbers are not good at all.
“At PIN-UP, we are used to counting numbers and working with numbers, so we take the other approach. We work only with the main growth levers.”
Learning the lessons
The betting and gaming industry does not exist in isolation and there are a host of other sectors that are also making great strides forward in technology. Aistrakhanov is open to the idea of learning lessons from markets such as financial services and ecommerce, which adapted to the data revolution earlier and made it work within environments where regulation is every bit as important as it is in gambling.
“In financial services, for example, data-driven decisions are the norm. You cannot run a financial business of any scale without proper enterprise data governance, data compliance, and working with the data and data-driven solutions. In igaming it’s a new thing,” he said.
Part of the reason that igaming is slightly behind the more established online industries is that developing and running data platforms involves large projects with huge budgets.
“You need the best resources,” explained Aistrakhanov. “You need to find the best human resources, you need to put a lot of investment in the infrastructure, and it’s affordable only for the large and corporate holdings, such as PIN-UP or the established big players.
“But the big players focused on expansion too much and they met the challenges with, for example, data or technology only after they accumulated traffic and started to think ‘what can we do better?’. So it wasn’t the first thing they thought about when they launched.”
While acknowledging that there is a gap between igaming and some other tech-driven industries, Aistrakhanov is confident it can be closed. That process will involve forward-thinking companies such as PIN-UP adopting the best practice in planning and strategic thinking seen in other sectors.
“We work on multiple levels across traffic, promo, marketing and so on, so we need to find the most flexible way for our platform to be compliant in all the necessary regulatory landscapes, while remaining strong and competitive,” he said.
“So we have to balance our high-tech market landscape with our business strategy. We need to know how and where to invest our resources. But what we can provide is flexibility, adaptivity and also creativity, because in the gaming world we are creative people. Our main advantages are that we are very flexible and very competitive.”
Big plans for 2025
With all that in mind, it is understandable that the PIN-UP.TECH team has a packed roadmap for the rest of the year and into 2025. It works with what it describes as the four pillars of igaming – payments, traffic, content and the main platform – and Aistrakhanov has plans for state-of-the-art new systems across all of them.
“We’ll develop all the necessary products for igaming operators, including CRM systems, call centre software, anti-fraud solutions, optimisation for smart traffic, payments orchestration and AI recommendation models, as well as further work on our data platform,” he revealed.
“We plan to get new compliance certificates, such as GLI-19 and GLI-33, as well as new licences to expand more.”
Given the scale of that ambition, it is no surprise that he concluded by saying “and we are growing our team”.