Facial recognition for casino worker ban not 100 pct accurate

Monday 25th of June 2018

The use of facial ID technology to identify off-duty casino workers would be “hardly 100 percent accurate”, says a gaming expert in Macau.

The comments were made by Ricardo Chi Sen Siu an associate professor of Business Economics at the University of Macau to Macau News Agency in response to a recent bill from the Macau government to ban casino employees from entering gaming venues outside of work hours.

“Since it is almost impossible for an employer to detect where employees go after work, casinos may have to check ID’s of the customers when they enter the gaming areas, but this may be quite time-consuming given the volume of customer flow in Macau today,” said Siu.

However, while Siu claims the technology “may be helpful” to help enforce the ban, the use of facial recognition technology is “hardly 100 percent accurate,” he said.

Siu instead suggests that posters and short education videos should be set up in staff resting and dining areas in order to reinforce staff knowledge of the regulations.

Last week, MGM CEO Grant Bowie said that privacy will be a significant hurdle for operators enforcing the casino worker ban.

“… the notion of being able to identify individuals is going to be a significant issue as it also does infringe upon certain privacy issues for those individuals. So we have much work to do with the government and we will need to understand how that will apply,” he said.