Macau Casinos Face Recognition Can Spot Big Losers

1.07.2019, 12:29

China is known for its civilian surveillance. Particularly, using drones to fight illegal gambling. In Macau, the country’s only gambling hub, however, AI is used to serve gambling instead of combatting it. Some Macau casinos are using facial recognition to identify people that are most likely to lose.

The casinos are using various hidden cameras to observe gamblers. Cameras can be in public view or hidden in chips or gaming tables. The algorithm then determines how much risk the player is willing to take. Judging by the customer’s face and behavior, the algorithm makes an assessment of the customer’s risk appetite that helps the casino earn up to 10 times more money.

The deployment of such technologies is not surprising. The number of tourists to Macau fell from 30m to 28m since 2016, with the rising percentage of them being middle-class Chinese. Therefore, the casinos would try to squeeze most out of the lesser number of tourists with less money.

Nevertheless, similar technology is not rare in casinos. Cameras are used consistently to detect cheating. Moreover, implementing more cameras at Macau casinos was suggested after the recent robbery. At the same time, many Las Vegas casinos deploy RFID-enabled casino chips. Such chips can be disabled outside of the casino, should they be stolen. That’s another reason why the recent casino robbery in Macau was unsuccessful.

Additionally, all of these technologies combined can track the statistics for every individual player. For example, time spent at the casino, average bets, favorite casino games, risk appetite, past cheating and more. This helps tailor the gambling experience and earn even more money. Therefore, the news of hidden cameras being used in this way should not be a surprise.

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