New York’s State Gaming Commission has unanimously advanced a rule that would bar sportsbooks, their affiliates and vendors from using artificial intelligence to personalise promotions, odds, betting limits and product recommendations for individual customers.
According to the commission’s Oct. 9 meeting materials, the AI proposal would add a new Part 5404 to the state’s gaming regulations.
The move is one of the most detailed attempts yet by a US regulator to constrain AI-driven player targeting in sports betting, and it has direct consequences for how operators and their marketing partners build acquisition and retention campaigns.
What happened
The New York State Gaming Commission voted unanimously Friday to advance both proposals, which now enter a 60-day public comment period before they can return to the commission for a final vote.
The revised AI proposal would restrict sportsbooks, their affiliates and vendors from using artificial intelligence, machine learning, algorithmic profiling, automated-decision systems or generative systems to analyze customer data and personalize promotions, bonuses, odds, betting limits, messages and product recommendations.
The rules would also bar operators from suggesting particular wagers, wager types or amounts, and from using promotions to drive spending, revenue or engagement.
The proposal would not apply to customers who consent, and parimutuel horse racing would be exempt.
A second, related measure would push operators further on responsible gambling.
The operators affected are Bally Bet, BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, Resorts World Bet, Rush Street Interactive, and theScore Bet.
Commission chair Brian O’Dwyer also pressed the industry to share data on self-excluded or at-risk customers so that a patron restricted by one operator cannot simply open an account elsewhere. The proposals follow heightened scrutiny of personalised marketing practices, including
reporting by the New York Times that revealed DraftKings utilized AI and data scientists to target promotions specifically at losing bettors.
Why it matters
The draft rule sets a high compliance bar.
Any offer, odds or wager suggestion that varies among patrons in a way linked to individual data would be presumed to violate the rule, and a licensee could rebut that presumption only with clear and convincing evidence, backed by required logs, that the variation came solely from published, objective criteria.
That shifts the burden of proof onto operators and their technology suppliers, who will need audit trails showing that any differentiated offer was not derived from behavioural data.
Because the rule explicitly names affiliates and vendors, it reaches beyond the regulated operator into the wider marketing supply chain. Performance marketers who help tailor landing pages, bonus messaging or retargeting campaigns to individual player data could fall within scope if New York finalises the rule as drafted. Affiliates working New York traffic should expect operators to request more standardised, non-personalised creative and offer structures, which could flatten the competitive differentiation that bespoke bonus messaging currently provides in paid and organic acquisition channels.
The bigger picture
The New York commission based its proposal on a similar measure in New Jersey.
The original proposal was included in a regulatory package Gov. Kathy Hochul released in March targeting underage gambling and the marketing of gambling to at-risk customers.
Other states are watching closely: reporting around the proposals noted that Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore, has separately expressed a desire to restrict how gambling companies use AI to target users showing signs of addiction, suggesting the New York approach could become a template rather than an outlier.
For an industry that has leaned heavily on data-driven personalisation to compete for player acquisition and retention, a binding version of this rule would mark a structural shift. It would arrive alongside a broader pattern of regulators globally tightening how operators use algorithmic systems in marketing, following moves by UK and EU authorities on machine and advertising standards. No date has been set for a final vote, and the rule remains open to revision through the comment process, but operators licensed in New York are already being advised to review how their promotional systems use customer data ahead of any binding requirement.
Readers tracking how regulation reshapes acquisition strategy may also find our analysis of affiliate SEO under regulation relevant background to this story.
Sources
- CasinoBeats – New York sportsbooks face proposed AI, intervention limits
- CDC Gaming – New York regulators seek to close problem gambling gaps, establish AI regulations
- Covers.com – NY Regulator Warns Sportsbooks to Address Responsible Gaming Gaps
- rg.org – NY Gaming Commission Advances AI Promo Ban, At-Risk Bettor Rules
- Gambling.com – New York Advances AI Betting Ban And At-Risk Bettor Rules
- Newsy Today – New York Proposes New Rules to Curb Online Sports Betting Addiction
Leave a Reply