Ask the Slot Expert: Facial recognition at slot machines

Question: Are there cameras in VLT machines to identify players?

Answer: I suppose the theory is that the machine's generosity will be affected by who is playing it.

Let's say that the casino can alter a machine for whatever reason. What kinds of safeguards have to be in place to prevent employees from goosing machines when their friends play them and splitting the winnings afterwards?

That said, I found this sentence about how facial recognition could be used in the casino in Facial Recognition in the Gambling Industry on the BetMGM site:

On the one hand, it can be used to identify regulars and VIP players and customize games according to their preferences, making the user experience all the more satisfying.

What could be a more satisfying user experience than hitting loads of jackpots and royal flushes? (Unless, of course this is that Twilight Zone episode in which the recently deceased two-bit thug goes to a casino and wins every bet and finds out at the end of the episode that he isn't in heaven, he's in "the other place." Oops, sorry. Spoiler alert.)

In this case, though, I think user experience is the experience ancillary to the playing experience, like automatically bringing the player's favorite beverage to the machine or table. I have to admit that I don't know what the author meant by "customize games" and he doesn't give any examples in the article. This section of the article is about how facial recognition "could be used", so maybe he's just spitballing.

I'm also a bit perplexed by what he said was on the other hand:

On the other hand, it could prove problematic because customer privacy has to be respected — not everyone may want the casino to know when they are visiting and how often they are coming in.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the only people who don't want the casino to know they're there are people who aren't supposed to be there or who want to cheat the casino. On my other hand, there might be many people who don't want the public to know they're there, like the former Secretary of Education I first learned about from Frank Scoblete. According to his Wikipedia page, William Bennett preached about family values and personal responsibility -- and also was a high-stakes gambler who lost millions of dollars in Las Vegas. Awkward!

Casinos don't publicize their security measures, but it's entirely possible that they may use facial recognition software on the cameras at the entrances to identify certain people entering the casino, like banned individuals (How Integrated Resorts and Casinos Are Leveraging Facial Recognition Software for Increased Security) or V-VIPs (Enhance the VIP Experience with Facial Recognition).

You don't have to worry about the casino using a camera to identify you when you're playing a penny machine, especially not if you're using a players card. If you're not supposed to be in the casino, for whatever reason, they may have already detected your presence using the eye in the sky.

If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.

I didn't know that the Nevada State Legislature meets for only a few months every other year and I had missed the deadline to propose new legislation when I started the petition. We'll be electing a new legislature this year, so let's keep gathering signatures.

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