Survey: 71% of VIP data is spread across multiple systems as manual workflows fuel silent churn in iGaming

A new report from The Playa, compiled with Gaming Operations Academy and WarriorLab, says VIP teams in online gambling still lean on spreadsheets, BI dashboards, and CRM platforms rather than AI or automation. For PSPs and operators, the point is simple: if portfolio management is fragmented, high-value players can go inactive without warning.

1. The report, The State of VIP Operations, surveyed 70 professionals actively engaged in VIP management in 2026, including VIP account managers, heads of VIP, and consultants. According to the study, 64% of respondents were employed directly by gambling operators.
2. Manual tools still dominate. None of the respondents selected AI or automation as their primary tool for managing VIP portfolios. Spreadsheets and business-intelligence dashboards each accounted for 30%, CRM platforms for 24%, and only 15% used AI or automation tools at all, and then only as secondary aids.
3. The data setup is the real headache. Although three-quarters of respondents rated their VIP data as good or very good, 71% said data was spread across multiple systems, and 50% said they sometimes made decisions with incomplete or outdated information.
4. The report flags “silent churn” as the commercial problem hiding inside that mess: 46% said VIP players often or very often became inactive without prior warning, while around 48% said they had no indicators of players’ behavioural signals or health. Viktoriia Grygorenko, CEO at The Playa and co-author of the report, called this the “clearest commercial case in the report”.
5. Portfolio size is part of the problem. In the survey, 64% of managers oversaw 100 or more VIPs, and one in five managed more than 500. The report says a manager looking after 250 players would have roughly 100 seconds per player per day if time were split equally. At that scale, the old “personal relationship” model stops working unless prioritisation does the heavy lifting.

There is also resistance to automation for a familiar reason: 38% of respondents said they worry AI could reduce the personal, human touch in VIP management. Grygorenko’s position is that prioritisation, not more manual effort, is what makes these portfolios manageable once they get past roughly 150 players per manager.