KYC - What is it and How Do Bookmakers Use it
KYC is an acronym used to refer to the ‘know your customer’ technologies used...
Technology has changed a lot about the way we do things. Rather than spend hours agitating over when you can go wager on a game with a bookie, you can do it from your phone. You can even deposit and withdraw money straight from your phone without going down to the bookie’s office. Along with all these changes, the concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence have also taken hold. It’s now come to two options- you are onboard with the new technologies or missing out on an opportunity to cash out even more. But what does artificial intelligence have to do with betting?
Artificial Intelligence in Betting
We can agree that the hardest part about placing a wager lies in deciding the most probable outcome. For example, if teams A and B are going against each other, how can you tell which team will come out on top? In the past, people used two options. Some would go with their hunches and would bet on the teams they felt were stronger. Others would study the stats, come up with some possible outcomes, and bet based on their analyses. But even with all this analysis, punters still missed points that cost them in the long run.
After all, they were dealing with years’ worth of data and had to run multiple regressions and add some subjectivity to the whole equation. Putting all this work on a human being will, of course to a huge task to bear. The result? – missed signals.
That’s where artificial intelligence comes into the picture. First, it can analyze years’ worth of data, pointing out each data point with ease and factoring this into the results. A human being cannot do all this, try as they might to get into every nook. Secondly, and most importantly, it’s all objective and does not base its results on subjectivity.
One of the reasons punters seem to get their wagers wrong is because they rely on their feelings. How likely are you to bet against your favorite player or team? Most people will bet based on how they feel about a team or player. Of course, factoring emotions into the equation lessens its strength and accuracy. But a machine will not consider this because it does not harbor bias. Once you enter the figures, all it sees are facts and not people with names. You can get a much better analysis out of a machine based on these crucial factors.
How Do Punters Use Artificial Intelligence?
At this point, there are tons of software offering artificial intelligence (AI) suited for betting. These programs feature AI algorithms that require you to feed them data. Here’s how they work. These systems are self-learning. So, they keep changing the way they analyze data based on their past analyses. Each time you feed them data, they get better at extracting meaningful information and converting it into outcomes you can use when placing a wager.
It’s all thanks to the Bayes’ theorem, which states that the probability of an event A given B will be equal to the probability of A multiplied by the probability of B given A divided by the probability of event B. Does this make sense?
P (A I B)
Why this formula? It throws subjective reasoning out the window and gives you an accurate prediction based on hard facts. The result is the true probability of the outcome of the event.
In the past, punters heavily relied on multiple regressions to predict event outcomes. However, you had to have adequate data about the past outcomes for such a regression to work. For example, if teams A and B were going to play each other, you would need to assess their past games. E.g., if team A had beat team B in 5 of their last 7 games, that would be a leg to stand on when assessing the probable outcome. This measure is also used in present assessments, but it tends to miss the mark as it cannot evaluate every data point.
So, when the Midas Algorithm was finally unveiled, punters could not believe their luck. Here was an algorithm that could predict future events based on past events without missing the major data points. It was one of the few systems that could do this and formed the foundation for the AI and machine learning technology we see today.
The Future of AI in Sports Betting
Can you win using AI? Sure, you can! However, innovative bookies have also caught on to this technology and are now flagging account users who seem to have such an advantage. They are quick to limit accounts and shut down accounts tied to users who seem to be making it big. So, you either earn a little or get kicked out of the site.
Is there a way to beat this? You can use betting exchanges where you can bet against other punters. No matter how often and how much you win on such sites, the site will not care much about your bankroll. After all, they are only there to facilitate the exchange and will not hurt if you win big every time. But this also means that other people using AI will also be on the platform and come for your money. So, you must be on top of your game!
The other option lies in starting slow. Rather than betting high amounts on one site, you can have different accounts tied to separate IP addresses under different names. That way, the bookie will have a hard time flagging you. Of course, this requires a lot of tact on your part.
Keep in mind, though, that AI is not 100% accurate. You must consider that:
- Your human instinct will always be necessary for interpreting the results.
- AI cannot predict injuries and lineup changes, and the outcome may be different from the prediction.
Other than that, AI has proven to be the future, not only in sports betting but other aspects of our life too. All the best in this new journey!
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