Face Recognition in Casinos

Did you know that many casinos use facial recognition? Find out more about the reasons behind doing this here in this article.

14:21 13 January 2020

Casinos are an extremely secure place where there are cameras everywhere watching peoples every move. There have been some massive scandals in terms of casino payouts, and it is important that the casinos make every effort to make sure that they are protected from any scams. This is not easy to do as they are usually busy establishments and can have hundreds (or even thousands) of customers gambling at any one time. As technology moves on, face recognition is one step in the right direction and is used in casinos across the globe. Here are some of the things that face recognition can be used for and other things that casinos are doing in terms of security (detection and prevention).

VIP Treatment

The high rollers in casinos are people who potentially spend (or turnover) significant amounts of cash playing games. This could be table games or even slots. These are the types of people that a casino wants in their establishment as the potential for them to lose a significant amount of money is big. If these people are in their casino, an easy way for them to know is via face recognition. Some casinos have a reception desk where players are expected to sign in (or swipe in) on their arrival. However, not all have this, and, in some casinos, people are able to just stroll on in and start playing.

There is also not a requirement for players to declare who they are when playing the tables (although the dealer will normally ask them for their players card – the player can refuse). If a player has therefore spent a lot of money, the cameras can pick up the players image and when the player returns the next time, the cameras will inform the casino on the arrival. This will allow the casino to then roll out the red carpets and try and make the VIP player feel extremely comfortable as to retain them in their establishment. There are dedicated VIP hosts in all casinos, and they will generally align to specific players and try and spark up a relationship with them. Players can receive all sort of perks starting from constant free food and drink but could also include premium hotel accommodation, trips to sporting events courtesy of the casino or even private jet flights to fly them to their casino.

Security

Unfortunately, there are people that go to casinos to try and scam the establishment. When playing on any casino game, the odds are always in the favour of the casino, however, depending on how you play it, it can be affected in your favour. An example of this is Blackjack. There is a book issued on a statistical basis to inform players what to do for every card combination. This does not move the favour of winning to the player but merely makes them less chance of losing (if they follow these statistics). However, there are players who will aim to card count. This can be done if there are decks of cards being used from a manual point of view (no machine shuffling) and players can could the amount of high and low cards issued. By doing this, they have a better understanding when it gets to the end of the deck what is left to come out and therefore can try and predict the outcomes.

Card counting is barred in all casinos and if they catch any customer doing this, they will be asked to leave the establishment and probably will be barred. The security cameras will play an important part in this and will help in identifying this if it is going on. To then ensure that the player can not return to the establishment and do it again, this is where face recognition will come in. f the player was to return and he is barred for not playing by the casino rules, then the alarms on the security system will activate and the security team informed. In addition to this, casinos will talk to each other (even if they are not part of the same primary company) and share this sort of information between them to ensure that none of them are being scammed by this sort of people.

Reward Points

Casinos will generally offer players a reward card and every time that they are gambling, the presentation of the reward card will be encouraged. They will tell you that this is so they can reward their loyal players (and part of that is true) but the real reason they want this is to monitor a player play. It is like a store card in supermarkets. They are very keen to know what the shopping habits are of individuals and as a result, the store card is an awesome way for them to get this important information.

Reward cards will give players the chance to earn some perks, but they really need to be spending a lot of cash in order to receive anything half decent. The casino will be able to know exactly what the player is spending on slots or at a table, what their average bet is and potential betting patterns just by having these sorts of cards. It all relies though on the ability to influence the player to join the rewards program and present the card, but you will notice that it is usually the first thing that is asked for as soon as you approach a table to gamble. This supports the security prevention strategy of a casino as they have more control and visibility of players.

Summary

With technology continuously changing, face recognition is proving to be extremely valuable for casinos and their security challenges that they have. More casinos are beginning to adopt this, and we see this as part of the norm very soon in every casino. If you are a good player who is not intending to break any rules then this sort of thing should not phase you as you are not the sort of person the casino is targeting (unless you are a VIP) through this initiative.