Founders
Kasra Ghaharian
Director of Research, UNLV International Gaming Institute
Kasra Ghaharian is the Director of Research at UNLV International Gaming Institute, where he leads interdisciplinary research at the intersection of artificial intelligence, data science, and gambling. His current interests center around AI ethics and governance, machine learning applications for consumer protection, and the responsible modernization of gambling technologies.
Ghaharian brings years of experience in digital analytics, e-commerce, and strategic operations from leadership roles at major casino-resort companies. His scholarly works have examined ways to improve industry tech and user experience. His Ph.D. research explored how digital payments and transactional data can be leveraged using machine learning to identify behavioral markers of gambling harm. His master’s thesis introduced a mathematical approach to optimizing casino floor configurations, one of the first of its kind.
Currently, Ghaharian is involved in several ongoing projects including using open banking data to study gambling involvement and financial harms, and leveraging LLMs for gambling education. Through AiR Hub, he is working to build transparent, evidence-based tools and advance AI research to help guide ethical AI adoption across the global gambling industry.
Simo Dragicevic
Adjunct Fellow, AiR Hub
Simo Dragicevic serves as Adjunct Fellow at AiR Hub. He has been a technology entrepreneur in the gambling industry since 2010, as founder of BetBuddy, a pioneer in artificial intelligence and RegTech, which was acquired by Playtech Plc in 2017.
Previously, Simo sat on the boards of Canada’s Responsible Gambling Council and the UK’s gambling regulator, the Gambling Commission, and was Managing Director and Head of AI at Playtech Plc.
Simo supervised on the PhD programme at City, University of London’s Research Centre for Adaptive Computer Systems and Machine Learning. His research interests are focused on the application of AI to RegTech and in making AI more transparent and safe. His research has been published at Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS), the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the International Joint Conference of Neural Networks (IJCNN), and the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (ECAI), as well as the leading gambling scientific journals.
Founding Members
AiR Hub is supported by a pioneering group of founding members who bring deep expertise in technology, responsible gambling, behavioral health, and gaming innovation. These organizations play a critical role in steering the Hub’s research agenda and ensuring its relevance to real-world industry challenges. Our founding members contribute not only financial support, but also strategic insight and technical knowledge.
We would like to acknowledge and thank our founding members: Aristocrat, Action Gaming, AXES.ai, Evoke Plc, Gaming Analytics, Kindbridge Behavioral Health, Playtech Plc, Responsible Online Gaming Association, Walker Digital Table Systems, Yaspa.
Aristocrat
Action Gaming / VideoPoker.com
AXES.ai
Evoke Plc
Gaming Analytics
Kindbridge Behavioral Health
Playtech Plc
Responsible Online Gaming Association
Walker Digital Table Systems
Yaspa
Aristocrat
Action Gaming / VideoPoker.com
AXES.ai
Evoke Plc
Gaming Analytics
Kindbridge Behavioral Health
Playtech Plc
Responsible Online Gaming Association
Walker Digital Table Systems
Yaspa
Action Gaming / VideoPoker.com
AXES.ai
Evoke Plc
Gaming Analytics
Kindbridge Behavioral Health
Playtech Plc
Responsible Online Gaming Association
Walker Digital Table Systems
Yaspa
Aristocrat
Action Gaming / VideoPoker.com
AXES.ai
Evoke Plc
Gaming Analytics
Kindbridge Behavioral Health
Playtech Plc
Responsible Online Gaming Association
Walker Digital Table Systems
Yaspa
Aristocrat
Each founding organization is represented on the AiR Hub Industry Advisory Panel by an individual expert. These representatives help guide research priorities and foster cross-sector collaboration that accelerates the adoption of ethical, effective AI across the global gambling industry. Learn more about AiR Hub’s research policy and firewalls.