CAN YOU REMAIN ANONYMOUS?

Modern Technology Implemented By Casinos Provides The Answer

To the Editor at the Gaming Guide: First off, thanks for a great read! My wife and I have been reading your magazine for years now and I don’t recall you ever printing anything about this topic in the magazine but we have been wondering about it for a long time – facial recognition software. I’m sure the big casinos in Las Vegas use it, but do you know if the casinos in Arizona have that technology? I know that you and your team may not agree with this, but my wife and I DO NOT use players cards at any of the casinos! Never have and never will. I know we are missing out on offers but we play at a lot of different casinos, we keep track of what’s going on through your magazine and word of mouth and that’s where we go play. We just want to be anonymous when we’re at the casinos. Plain and simple. So, my question to you is how far does this facial technology go? Can the casinos recognize who we are and track us, even without a player’s card? And, what about masks? There’s still a lot of people running around with masks on their faces. How does the facial recognition work then? If you decide to print this, I’d appreciate you sign it Anonymous in Arizona. Thanks.

Hi Anonymous! Thank you for writing in and for being our fan for such a long time. We understand the desire to remain an anonymous casino customer. Yes, you are missing out on offers by not having and using a player’s club card! And, those offers add up to around 2% of your casino spend, at least that’s the industry average.

But, let’s put all of that aside and examine the impact of technology and innovation on “anonymous” customers at casinos. Most casino surveillance departments in Arizona and beyond use high definition, digital cameras. They’re cheap, store videos electronically, and are far better than the old analog alternative. Security “sees” customers in better detail than ever before.

For example, some casinos now perform hand pays with the reverse side of bills facing up! Why? On the back side of US currency ($5 and up) is a quite large identifiable number indicating the value of the bill. The eye in the sky can easily identify how much you were paid. First and foremost, it’s a backup to what an employee did, which is to pay you the correct amount!

However, with the advent of image mapping technology, software captures a customer’s face and, using an algorithm, converts the image of your face into a sequence of numbers based on the unique characteristics in the image. So, the casino isn’t violating your privacy by storing a picture of your face, they are storing a “fingerprint” of an image of your face.

A “faceprint?” Pretty much! Once on property, the casino converts from your chin to the top of your head, from ear to ear, and the profile of your face, into a sequence of numbers.

Once you win a taxable jackpot, it’s not difficult to imagine your address, photo ID info, and social security number can now be attached to your faceprint. While the casino might not sign you up for their players club without your consent, they can assign you some identifier in their accounting system and begin tracking your play, favorite restaurant, which bar you order a drink from, etc. Now they know who you are and what you are up to!

How do we know? Read an excerpt from a recent press release from Konami Gaming, a leading slot and casino product supplier: “SYNK Vision enables players to sign into the SYNKROS player loyalty system at EGMs (slots) & Table Games simply by sitting down in the chair in front of the EGM or a table games seat, versus having to use a traditional magnetic player card to access the loyalty system.” And that’s just one press release!

And, a mask doesn't hide your faceprint! Surveillance technology can “see through” a face covering. Think about it. A casino is on the lookout for undesirable people, banned persons, selfexcluded players, and a lot more in order to protect their assets and their guests. Just how anonymous are you? Not really! $

Thank you to our readers for your questions and comments, we appreciate you! Write us at Editor@AZGamingGuide.com or by mail at Editor, AZ