St8 reports 91% rise in MCP AI assistant usage as operator queries pass 10,000

Self-reported data from a focus group shows operators have moved past piloting AI query tools and now use them in routine back-office work.

Agentic AI is moving from experimentation into daily operator workflows across iGaming, as platforms begin publishing concrete usage evidence to support the trend. St8 released updated usage data on 26 October 2026 showing its MCP-powered back-office assistant handled 10,358 queries in the three months following its July launch, with weekly volume up 91%.

Focus group logs 10,358 queries over 13 weeks

St8, the casino games aggregator and full-service technology provider, has published updated usage figures from its MCP-powered back-office AI assistant, covering the period from 19 July to 11 October 2026. The data comes from a focus group of operator partners and shows 10,358 AI-handled queries and actions processed across 13 weeks, with weekly volume rising 91% from 490 queries in the opening week to 935 in the week commencing 11 October.

Over the same two-month window from 16 August to 4 October, query volume climbed 128%, from 426 to 972 per week, as operator teams moved beyond initial testing and embedded the assistant into routine workflows. The pattern of lower weekend activity followed by a Monday rebound is consistent across the data set, which St8 says indicates back-office rather than player-facing use.

The assistant runs on St8’s implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard introduced by Anthropic in November 2024 and subsequently adopted by OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft.

Rather than navigating dashboards manually, operators use natural-language queries to retrieve reports, check game configurations, and flag issues within the platform. The integration is compatible with leading large language models including ChatGPT and Gemini, and applies St8’s existing permission hierarchy so connected AI tools can access only authorised data.

August spike and system stability

Weekly query totals are summarised in the table below. The figure of 2,679 for the week of 2 August stands out as an outlier; St8’s earlier interim data release, published on 29 September 2026, attributed that spike to operators collecting monthly reports and invoice data rather than a sustained change in usage patterns.

Usage across the final two weeks of the measurement period totalled 1,907 queries without any reported service disruption, which St8 positions as evidence of the platform’s capacity under load.

SBC Summit Lisbon and broader context

St8 demonstrated the MCP assistant at SBC Summit Lisbon in September 2026. The company reported that AI query activity increased by more than 50% in the weeks following the event compared with the week before it, though the figures relate to the same focus group rather than new adopters.

The data is self-reported and drawn from a defined focus group, which limits its broader generalisability. Nonetheless, it represents one of the few sets of concrete operator-level MCP usage figures to emerge from the iGaming sector.

MCP adoption has grown quickly since launch. By December 2025, there were more than 10,000 active public MCP servers and over 97 million monthly SDK downloads, according to Anthropic.

Vlad Negine, CEO at St8, said:

‘We launched our MCP integration to explore new ways AI could make day-to-day operations easier, giving operator partners a faster and simpler way to interact with the St8 platform. The data provides encouraging signs so far, as the increased usage and upward trajectory are proof that the MCP has a positive impact on making operations more efficient.’

About St8

St8 is a casino games aggregator and full-service technology provider offering operators access to more than 21,000 games from over 220 providers via a single API. The platform includes integrated tools for promotions, compliance, reporting, lobby management, and AI-powered workflows. St8 holds B2B supplier licences across multiple regulated markets including the UK, Malta, Romania, Isle of Man, Sweden, and Alberta, Canada.

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