igaming VIPs slip away unnoticed as 0% of teams use AI

Survey of 70 VIP professionals reveals an industry managing hundreds of its highest-value players through spreadsheets, fragmented systems, and manual decisions, while nearly half see VIPs go inactive without warning.

Key takeaways:

• No respondent in a survey of 70 VIP professionals uses AI or automation as their primary portfolio management system.
• 64 per cent of VIP managers oversee 100 or more players, while one in five manages more than 500.
• 46 per cent of respondents say VIP players often or very often become inactive without advance warning.
• Spreadsheets and business intelligence tools are each the primary system for 30 per cent of respondents, followed by CRMs at 25 per cent.
• The study points to automation handling data assembly and prioritisation while VIP managers retain responsibility for relationships and decisions.

igaming VIP teams are managing large portfolios without purpose-built AI or automation, according to a new study based on responses from 70 industry professionals. The findings highlight an operational gap in which manual systems make it harder to identify behavioural changes and prioritise the players who need attention.

Special report.- The Playa, together with Gaming Operations Academy and WarriorLab, has released The State of VIP Operations, a new study examining how igaming companies actually manage their highest-value players.

Based on responses from 70 qualified VIP professionals – 64 per cent of them working directly for operators – the study maps the systems, processes and daily realities behind VIP management in 2026. Respondents included VIP account managers, team leads, heads of VIP across operators, managed-service providers, and consultancies.

Viktoriia Grygorenko, CEO at The Playa, said: “VIP operations is the most human function in igaming, run by the smallest teams, on the least purpose-built technology, against the shortest-horizon metrics.

“The findings show that VIP Account Managers are asking for a clearer signal on who needs attention, what has changed and where their judgement can have the greatest impact.”

Key findings from the report:

• Large portfolios make personalisation difficult. 64 per cent of managers host 100 or more assigned VIP players, and one in five hosts more than 500. A manager with 250 players has roughly 100 seconds per player, per day, before reporting, escalations, and coordination take their share.
• Without automation, players slip away unnoticed. At this scale, silent churn becomes a major blind spot: 46 per cent of respondents say VIP players go inactive without advance warning often or very often, and 48 per cent report having no indication of a player’s behavioural signals or overall health.
• VIP operations remain highly manual. No respondent identified an AI or automation tool as their primary system for managing a VIP portfolio. Spreadsheets and business intelligence tools were the most common primary systems, each used by 30 per cent of respondents, followed by CRM platforms at 25 per cent.

Together, these findings point towards a new model of VIP operations: one in which technology handles data assembly and prioritisation, while VIP Account Managers remain responsible for the human relationship, communication and final decision-making.

Gali Hartuv, co-founder & CEO of WarriorLab, added: “The challenge is not that VIP professionals lack experience. It is that the operational environment makes it difficult to apply that experience consistently across large portfolios. Better prioritisation can help teams preserve the human element while reducing the manual work surrounding it.”

The State of VIP Operations is available to download now here.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

• What is The State of VIP Operations study? A 2026 survey of 70 VIP professionals across igaming, produced by The Playa with Gaming Operations Academy and WarriorLab, examining how operators actually manage their highest-value players.
• How many VIP players does a typical manager handle? 64 per cent of respondents manage 100 or more players, and one in five manage over 500 — leaving as little as 100 seconds per player daily for direct attention.
• Why do VIP players go inactive without warning? Because most teams rely on spreadsheets, BI tools or CRMs rather than dedicated monitoring: 46 per cent report undetected churn happens often or very often, and 48 per cent have no visibility into behavioural signals.
• Are igaming operators using AI to manage VIPs? No respondent in the study named AI or automation as their primary VIP management system; spreadsheets (30 per cent), BI tools (30 per cent) and CRMs (25 per cent) remain the dominant tools.