46% of VIP Managers Report Players Going Inactive Without Warning

Nearly half of iGaming VIP professionals say high-value players often or very often become inactive without advance warning, according to a new industry study from The Playa, Gaming Operations Academy and WarriorLab.

The State of VIP Operations surveyed 70 professionals working in VIP management, including account managers, team leaders, heads of VIP and consultants. Some 64% of respondents work directly for gambling operators.

The findings point to a gap between the amount of player data available to VIP teams and their ability to use it quickly enough to identify accounts requiring attention.

VIP Managers Are Handling Large Player Portfolios

According to the report, 68% of VIP managers oversee portfolios of at least 100 players, while 20% are responsible for more than 500.

The researchers calculated that a manager responsible for 250 players would have roughly 100 seconds per player during an eight-hour working day if all of that time were dedicated to direct communication. In practice, reporting, bonus processing, internal coordination and other tasks reduce the available time further.

This workload makes prioritisation a central part of VIP management. The study found that 49% of respondents include personal judgement or intuition when deciding which players should receive attention first, while 23% use automated scoring.

Commercial KPIs also remain dominant. Some 76% of VIP teams are measured using metrics such as NGR, GGR or deposit volume, compared with 19% that are assessed on player retention or lifetime value.

Spreadsheets and BI Remain the Main VIP Tools

Despite the commercial importance of VIP players, the survey found no respondents using AI or automation as their primary portfolio management tool.

Excel or Google Sheets and business intelligence platforms were each named as the main system by 30% of respondents, while CRM platforms accounted for around a quarter.

The Playa says the issue is not simply whether teams have access to player information. Some 76% of respondents rated their data quality as good or very good, yet 71% said relevant information is spread across multiple systems.

Half of respondents said they at least sometimes make decisions using incomplete or outdated data.

The report's authors argue that fragmentation creates additional manual work as managers move between systems and assemble information before deciding which players require action. The Playa's report page estimates that connecting information across existing tools can consume 12 to 17 hours per week.

46% Report VIP Players Becoming Inactive Without Warning

The operational limitations become particularly visible around player retention.

Some 46% of respondents said VIP players often or very often become inactive without advance warning. Another 48% reported having no indicator showing a player's behavioural signals or overall health.

The study describes this as a "silent churn" problem, where a change in player behaviour may only become clear after activity has already fallen.

At the same time, respondents showed interest in technology designed to identify those changes earlier. Around 75% gave a high rating to the idea of a tool that provides a prioritised daily action for each player, while 67% said they would value AI-based churn predictions and early alerts.

However, managers do not appear to see automation as a replacement for direct VIP relationships. Some 38% identified the potential loss of personal contact as a major concern around AI adoption. The report instead presents automation primarily as a way to consolidate information, identify behavioural changes and help managers decide where their attention is most useful.

The authors caution that the research is based on a relatively small sample and should be treated as an indication of industry practices rather than a statistically representative picture of the entire iGaming sector.