Kindbridge Behavioral Health has long been on the front line of the responsible gambling (RG) movement, providing pathways to treatment for problem gamblers or at-risk players through partnerships with operators. Mindway AI, another big player in the space, aims to identify risk factors earlier and in more granular detail than typical RG avenues.
The two companies realized some time ago that they could work synergistically to change how problem gambling is identified and how quickly it could be treated.
The companies formed a strategic alignment to combine their expertise in mental health care and artificial intelligence, addressing a major gap in the RG ecosystem. The collaboration aims to better identify and support individuals experiencing gambling harm. They have plans to launch their new partnership in 2025.
The partnership between these two companies will elevate RG practices at every point of the process, from identifying at-risk players to giving them streamlined access to treatment, representatives from the companies say. Kindbridge is an International Gambling Counselor Certification Board (IGCCB) approved provider.
Assessing gambling behavior key
It all starts with identifying players who display risky betting behavior or outright present with gambling issues. Mindway AI’s GameScanner software combines AI algorithms and human expert assessments to overcome hurdles inherent in the challenge of identifying players in need of help.
Mindway CEO Rasmus Kjaergaard believes RG solutions should account for unique behaviors.
“You and I are two different individuals,” Kjaergaard told GGB. “Our gambling behavior is individual, and our risk factors would be individual, too. AI is strongest in finding patterns in big data sets, and you need to instruct it which patterns to look for. The challenge is that these patterns are individual; there’s no sole truth.”
Many solutions will focus on self-exclusion, self-assessments, or highly variable data points to identify problem gambling, according to Kjaergaard.
“We want to clarify the full picture of a player’s gambling behavior, and that requires an approach combining real human experts—mainly psychologists working in RG—with AI.”
The model has proved effective thus far. It has been tested and validated by Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), confirming that GameScanner detected problem gamblers like a human psychologist would 87 percent of the time.
Partnership young, but ideas abound
With Mindway AI’s solutions honed and constantly improving, the natural next question is: What happens next?
After a player is identified and/or self-excludes, how can Mindway and Kindbridge leverage the data they have to give that player the best chance at help?
The partnership is in its early stages, but both businesses have ideas on how they can streamline the process and drastically improve the next steps for players.
Michelle Hatfield is the chief clinical officer at Kindbridge, and is an International Certified Gambling Counselor-II. She is also a licensed marriage and family therapist, and a doctorate candidate in cyberpsychology. She already has a vision for how the two companies can come together and augment their treatment and outreach plans.
“Right now, we’re working with Mindway to establish a treatment pathway,” she said. “Ideally, people who demonstrate risky behaviors and are scored on Mindway’s continuum of concerns get referred to us for services, and that’s where we would step in to transition the player, identify their needs, and determine what kind of treatment is best.”
Currently, a player will be referred to Kindbridge via an operator if they self-exclude, express a need for services or identify that they’re at risk for a potential problem with gambling.
The idea here is that operators using the new Kindbridge-Mindway technology would be identified and contacted potentially before they think they have a problem.
“They access us through that operator,” Hatfield said. “They receive an email with details about Kindbridge and links to an intake and screening scheduler.”
Quick access to treatment will be available
That first meeting is essentially a pulse check and an informational session. Kindbridge’s providers will assess the player for the type of care they need, whether there are treatment providers in their area, and other baseline details.
From there, the player completes a self-assessment, which helps Kindbridge determine if they have a gambling problem and/or an underlying mental health condition that should be prioritized.
The key to Kindbridge’s approach is that there are no bottlenecks to treatment, which could be virtual or in-person. “We have staff available,” Hatfield said. “We have therapists certified in gambling counseling, and they have capacity. People can get services within two to three days of scheduling an appointment.”
There’s always room for improvement, though, and Hatfield already sees the value of Mindway’s GameScanner. “What I would like to see is a component of research. We can explore how their findings correlate with our assessments.
“Mindway might come with their risk-scoring assessment on an individual,” she continued. “So we can take that risk scoring and compare it to the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI) to find overlap. We can say, ‘Look, your risk scoring of one through five often correlates with our PGSI scoring.’”
The PGSI is a nine-item self-reporting measure to identify problem gambling behaviors and the risk levels associated with them.
Armed with that data, Kindbridge can tweak treatments to cater to players. There’s also value in hard data, which Hatfield said can help paint a picture for players of what their specific risk factors are.
Unique data will play a role
Granular data plays a key role here.
“One common risk factor is nightly play,” Kjaergaard said. “Most systems might start and end with the question of whether there’s nightly play. We go deeper and find extra context. For example, if the nightly play is clustered around the weekend and accompanied by stable deposit patterns, that’s one risk level.”
That type of nightly play is consistent with weekend viewing of NFL games, perhaps. On the flip side, there are much riskier ways to play nightly.
“Perhaps we see nightly play with erratic deposits and frequent bets on weeknights spinning into night hours. That’s a significantly higher risk level,” Kjaergaard said.
Kindbridge can benefit from this data in many ways. The obvious path is comparing the information with a player’s self-assessment to see if the self-awareness lines up with the problem’s severity. It can also nudge the treatment process in subtle ways when a licensed treatment provider has a clearer picture of a player’s driving risk factors.
And while this hasn’t yet taken full shape, Mindway and Kindbridge may be able to improve their messaging strategies when a player presents with issues. Hatfield noted that repeat messages—whether via email, text, or other channels—are often most effective at getting players to seek help. Once they do seek help, it’s important to provide a safe and understanding space for them.
“Usually in treatment, somebody’s coming to us because they’ve been nudged or they’ve noticed a problem on their own,” Hatfield said. “We have to establish a no-stigma, no-judgment, supportive environment. As a treatment provider, it’s essential to approach it from a space of wanting to help the client meet their goals.”
