Facial recognition technology has a wide range of applications in various industries. Do casinos use facial recognition within the premises?
Below is a detailed discussion on facial recognition and its use on the gambling floor to answer that question.
Explaining Facial Recognition Technology
As the name implies, can identify a person through a picture or video of their face. Recognition software will run facial identification through a database or a single file.
When a match is made, the software's secondary function kicks. This includes alerting managers of a specific individual within the premise. In other modern uses, facial recognition software acts as a fingerprint or PIN ID to verify the user. This application is used to unlock phones or various devices.
How can computers or any device recognize a face? It creates a geometrical map of your face, which includes the measure of your eyes, nose, mouth, ears, chin, and cheeks. Even the shape of your nose and lips are taken. This geometrical map is converted into machine language that can be used to toggle or activate specific parts of a program.
We must remember that an AI is responsible for facial characterizing all individuals. Your face can do more than a thousand different expressions. If a regular program were to capture your face, it would just capture one of those expressions. This limitation makes the technology irrelevant since it cannot create a concrete database to mark specific individuals.
Using AI technology or machine learning, facial recognition software can utilize various filters to transfer a face into various expressions. Machine learning makes it possible to capture the entire "human face" and turn it into usable data. In addition, AI makes facial recognition accurate and fast in tagging individuals among a crowd.
Once a person's face has been converted into data, it is stored in a digital database accessed by various facial recognition software. Surveillance systems or devices with built-in cameras are constantly making matches when a face enters their field of vision. At the same time, cameras record the faces that it captures in real-time.
Casino Security Applications of Facial Recognition Technology
A casino monitoring system primarily uses facial recognition to find criminals or banned individuals among guests. Every casino security team draws information on all criminals from local or national authorities. Thanks to facial recognition surveillance, casino security can immediately alert personnel or local authorities if any dangerous individuals or known cheats are walking in.
Apart from spotting criminals, casino facial recognition technology is used to find potential cheats among the players by tracking their gambling patterns. Machine learning will run a series of pattern recognition algorithms to see if a player displays signs of collaboration with a dealer.
Facial recognition also makes it possible to catch blackjack card counters who usually set their bets in a specific manner. Security makes this possible by utilizing other measures such as RFID casino chips to track the movement of money.
Casino Player Retention Applications of Facial Recognition
Machine learning is another method for casinos to find VIPs or high-rollers on the casino floor. Casino managers want to make these players feel at home within their premises by rewarding them with various comps such as coupons to a sports game, turning checks into cash, and a free entrance to their attraction.
With the help of facial recognition casino software, management can establish a strong sense of customer loyalty among the high-rollers on their gambling floor. These comps help retain these players or encourage them to visit the casino instead of thinking about going to other establishments. This method is one of the casino's secrets to making money.
Facial recognition also has an opposite function to retaining high-rollers by finding individuals displaying signs of problem gambling. These people tend to have a troubling personal life that makes them indulge in gambling. Managers want to prevent gambling addicts from spending their savings or significant loans on their premises since it can lead to a bad PR. Facial recognition and machine learning technology can spot these individuals on the floor and allow staff to determine if they require self-exclusion.
Facial recognition is at the forefront of security and marketing among physical casinos because of its capability to spot key individuals among their guests. Each year, the accuracy and speed of AI technology to create a database and make a match are further improving.
This article was published on November 1, 2022, and last updated on October 6, 2022.