Tugi Tark releases 2026 whitepaper on AI iGaming customer support economics

Tugi Tark on Tuesday released a 2026 whitepaper, The economics of AI-powered iGaming customer support, focused on the cost structure of player support in gambling and how artificial intelligence could change operator and BPO unit economics.

The report cites Eurostat 2024 labour cost data, published AI chatbot performance benchmarks, independent iGaming player behaviour research, and what it describes as verified operational data from Tugi Tark deployments. Using Tugi Tark’s stated pricing of EUR 0.15 per AI-handled ticket, the company compares it with fully loaded human support costs in Romania and Bulgaria of EUR 1.73 to EUR 1.88 per ticket.

According to the whitepaper, at a “realistic 70% AI containment rate,” a blended AI-and-human support model would reduce average per-ticket costs to about EUR 0.67, which it frames as roughly a 64% reduction versus a human-only baseline of EUR 1.88. The report also claims operators could achieve a 55% to 75% reduction in total support expenditure, and says AI can absorb volume spikes during major sporting events without additional hiring or training lag.

Harpo Lilja, founder and CEO of TUgi Tark, said: “In 2026, the ‘wait-and-see’ approach to AI is costing operators millions in unnecessary overhead. We aren’t just talking about chatbots; we’re talking about a fundamental shift in the unit economics of player retention.”

The company’s modelling also links support performance to retention. The whitepaper says payment issues account for 52% of ticket volume and argues slow response times drive player churn; it claims that improving churn by 0.5 percentage points through instant, 24/7 resolution could retain an additional 500 players per month for a mid-sized operator. Based on an average player lifetime value of EUR 400, Tugi Tark estimates this would equate to EUR 200,000 in annual revenue retained.

Tugi Tark said the whitepaper also outlines how its specialist AI agents are designed for regulatory requirements, including Responsible Gambling escalation, KYC and AML documentation workflows, and data sovereignty requirements such as GDPR and local licensing conditions. The report is available at https://www.tugitark.com/cxreport2026.