Interview with Sophie Linghag, Head of Fair Play, RG & AML at ATG: Inside ATG’s Use of GameScanner for Early Risk Detection

When I ask Sophie about the background to integrating Mindway’s GameScanner, she comes back to the importance of safer gambling. From there, she explains that GameScanner has been ‘live’ at ATG since the end of September 2025, and it has been running at full speed for 4 months with ATG’s broad customer base of 1.4 million customers.

The system needs to identify and be accurate, and that expectation has now been fulfilled.
Today, when our staff call a customer, it is noticeable in our conversations – that they are not surprised because there is a solid underlying analysis and ongoing communication from the process within GameScanner.

Previously, we worked with several systems, whereas today we can direct our resources more effectively. This is the first step, a kind of base plate to a system for detecting changes in gambling behavior in an early stage with high accuracy.

The responsibility, however, lies with us as a company, and it is ATG that makes the human assessment of the GameScanner analysis.

Today, we can detect risks linked to a changed gambling pattern earlier. The system identifies the risk class and connects it to automated softer communication, prompting reflection at an early stage; the message escalates at an early stage. If the risk continues to increase, it leads to a dialogue – human assessment and action.

Another advantage is traceability – there is clear documentation throughout the whole process, which is also good for supervision.

“The system becomes helpful in the whole process.”

Why Mindway?

Trust, responsibility, and the role of human dialogue

Sophie is also Head of Anti-Money Laundering and sees a future synergy in which the same structured approach can also support earlier detection of money laundering.

She keeps returning to the systems accurracy and how it enables staff to engage in conversations with greater confidence. Customers are better prepared for contact, leading to more natural dialogues and allowing patterns of combined risk-related behaviors to be identified more effectively.

– For ATG, building trust is central to long-term customer relationships, and that focus runs through their overall responsibility work. ATG started with, and is still big in, horse betting, so a clear sense of responsibility has long been part of the company’s DNA.

The staff who make the care calls are trained in a specific method, Motivational interviewing. With support from the system, the calls have become more structured and higher in quality: today, they can describe the whole picture to a customer – for example, more play at night in combination with other factors – and explain what measure will follow.

Earlier, the conversations could be more open and sometimes marked by greater uncertainty. It can be easy to deny, and there is shame and guilt behind “admitting” a gambling problem. It takes a lot to get through that denial, and the indicators in the system have provided several concrete keys to do that.

Trotting race start at a Swedish track. Image from ATG.

Adapting GameScanner to ATG’s player base

Before choosing Mindway and the integration, there was a concern that, as a major horse‑betting operator, ATG’s customers would be a different kind of player compared to, for example, online casino customers.

That concern no longer exists; we have conducted numerous spot checks of our customers who bet on horses, and the results have closely matched our own assessments. We will also move forward with Mindway Expert to train the system specifically on ATG’s customer base.

Implementation and training

Implementing GameScanner was not just a technical project; it also meant changing how people work.

ATG held workshops with Mindway, during which staff who would use the system were trained to understand and work with the risk assessments. During this phase, a group of specialists within ATG was also trained to continue training and supporting colleagues across the organisation.

How the system creates an instant overview of the risk level

Mindway’s system picks up changes in behaviour; it may be that the gambling becomes more impulsive, higher stakes, or simply a larger change in the pattern.

– Today, we have an instant overview of all our customers, by total, by segment, or at the individual level. We used to believe our customer base had a low risk level; now we know the majority of our players gamble at low risk, and we can have greater confidence in those figures and direct our resources towards the small group that needs them most.

Sophie describes how GameScanner helps ATG spot early changes in gambling behaviour, document every step in the process, and focus resources on the small group of customers most at risk.

That is good for our customers and, therefore, good for ATG. Now that behaviours are captured earlier, we are also asking whether our resources can be distributed even better than today. The clear documentation and traceability in the system also make it a strong support tool in our compliance work towards regulators.

Analysis: Today, we have conversations that are more accurate and go to the core.

Collage showing trotting, sports and casino betting – illustrating ATG’s combined offer on horses, sport and casino. Photo courtesy of ATG.

Moving forward

The questions being asked now are:

-Do we need to hold conversations at every stage, or can we focus them where they are most important?

Another important part is ensuring the customer’s “affordability” – whether they can afford their gambling. This part currently lies outside the system and is handled through AML rules and know-your-customer procedures.

So who is Sophie Linghag?

She started working at ATG in 2019 and has a background in economics and sustainability research. Her first role at ATG was as a responsible gambling specialist. She joined at a time when the company was taking its sustainability work to the next level: there was already a solid foundation to build on, but also clear support for advancing the sustainability work further.

With around 20 years of experience in research and economics, she can now see sustainability from two sides: the academic perspective and the perspective of working for an operator in the industry. When I ask Sophie what motivated the change, she describes a strong interest in sport in general and a drive to contribute to further development of sustainability in the gambling sector.

In our discussion, we come back to the importance of research. Mindway’s tools are research‑based, and the company itself started as a spin‑out from Aarhus University, which has been a major factor in ATG’s choice of partner, and felt very natural to Sophie.

Today, she feels real satisfaction in seeing research become practically useful – something that can help make society better.

Suppliers perspective

When we spoke earlier with Mindway AI’s Paula Murphy for iGaming Review about how GameScanner combines AI, neuroscience, and expert assessments for early detection, she described a model built around behaviour, clear escalation, and strong documentation. Listening to Sophie, it is striking how naturally those ideas now appear in ATG’s day-to-day work – and readers who want to explore the Mindway side of the story can find that interview here.

Player Protection reimagnied, interview with Paula Murphy at Mindway

Sources

Sources:
Editorial digital interview with Sophie Linghag, Head of Fair Play, RG & AML at ATG
Mindway AI Partners with ATG to Enhance Responsible Gambling with GameScanner – https://mindway.ai/news_and_knowledge/mindway-ai-partners-with-atg-to-enhance-responsible-gambling-with-gamescanner/


Swedish Betting Giant ATG Taps Mindway AI to Elevate Safer Gambling Standards – https://www.gambleresponsibly.com/news/swedish-betting-giant-atg-taps-mindway-ai-to-elevate-safer-gambling-standards/