The Investors Backing AI Gambling’s Future
▼ Summary
– Carson Szeder turned $5 into over $1,000 using an AI program to guide his NFL betting, leading him to found the startup MonsterBet.
– Since the U.S. federal ban on sports betting ended seven years ago, online gambling has surged, with Americans wagering over $150 billion last year.
– A cottage industry has emerged where AI tools are being developed to assist gamblers, though no major AI-generated millionaires have yet appeared.
– Szeder’s MonsterGPT uses retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) to scrape and analyze data, claiming to help users win 56–60% of bets for a $77 monthly fee.
– Competition includes services like Rithmm and JuiceReel, while established companies like FanDuel offer AI analysis but prohibit automated betting to keep control with users.
The rapid growth of online sports betting has created a fertile ground for technological innovation, particularly in the realm of artificial intelligence. Since the federal ban on sports wagering was lifted seven years ago, the industry has seen explosive expansion, with Americans placing over $150 billion in sports bets last year alone. This surge has coincided with advancements in AI, leading to a new wave of startups aiming to give bettors a data-driven advantage.
Carson Szeder’s story illustrates this trend. After turning a five-dollar wager into more than a thousand dollars using an AI-assisted system, he founded MonsterBet, a platform designed to help users make more informed gambling decisions. Szeder, a computer science graduate, began developing betting algorithms in college before integrating AI into his models earlier this year. His tool, MonsterGPT, uses custom projection models and web-scraped data through a process called retrieval-augmented generation, allowing it to incorporate real-time information beyond its initial training. Subscribers pay $77 per month for access to these insights, with Szeder claiming some users achieve win rates between 56 and 60 percent, well above standard odds.
The market for AI-assisted betting tools is becoming increasingly crowded. Companies like Rithmm offer packages starting at $30, while others such as JuiceReel provide free basic applications. These platforms vary in functionality; some use AI to suggest bets without automating the actual placement, while others market themselves primarily as tip services enhanced by machine learning.
Larger, more established players in the gambling industry are also entering the AI space, though often with a more cautious approach. FanDuel, for example, recently launched a chatbot named Ace that offers analysis and recommendations but stops short of automated betting. The company emphasizes that the final decision to place a bet should always remain with the user. As Jon Sadow, FanDuel’s vice president of product innovation, stated, “The power to place bets should always stay in the hands of our customers themselves, not bots, AI agents, or anything else.”
While no AI betting service has yet created a wave of overnight millionaires, the race is on to develop tools that can reliably outperform traditional gambling methods. Whether these technologies will democratize winning or simply add another layer to the house edge remains to be seen.
(Source: Wired)
