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About Buffalo Hunter
Within the survey, none of the respondents selected AI or automation as their primary tool for managing VIP portfolios.
Instead, spreadsheets and business-intelligence dashboards each accounted for 30%, and CRM platforms followed at 24%. Only 15% used AI/automation tools in any capacity, and then only as secondary aids.
Large and demanding portfolios were highlighted as a key challenge, with 64% of managers overseeing 100 or more VIPs, while one in five managed more than 500.
How to play Buffalo Hunter
Industry consultant Jari Vähänen, formerly a senior executive at Veikkaus, estimated the entire business could be valued at up to €4.5 billion following the liberalisation of the market.
Veikkaus is adjusting to a partial liberalisation of Finland’s gambling market under the new Gambling Act, which was ratified in January 2026.
From July 2027, the company will lose exclusivity over betting and iCasino products, which will become licence-based, while retaining exclusive rights for lottery games, scratchcards, slot machines and physical table games.
What is Buffalo Hunter?
“When we talk about localisation, we’re not talking about the language or doing a game about Machu Picchu,” he tells iGB. “We’re talking about taking the effort to understand what the history of those players is, what they’re used to.
“I always found it funny when Colombia was starting, operators were saying ‘players here do not like slots’, as if they have a different DNA. Five years later, they would say, ‘well, they do like slots, but simple slots’. And five years later, they were playing all the usual [slots]. It’s not that they didn’t like slots.
“If someone takes the time to understand what they’re used to playing, what they like, what their history is and take that into consideration, then you can bridge that gap. If operators take that time to understand where players are at, it does make a difference.”
