We’ve seen it in movies like Mission Impossible, Blade Runner, and Alien for decades. Biometric authentication is a futuristic concept made very real in today’s world. And it appears in many different industries across the globe. But what we’re really talking about when we mention this fancy term, is facial recognition software. This security feature scans the human face using metrics and measurements. It can accurately identify and match it with credentials in a system. This allows that person access to something or somewhere.
Types of Identifiers
Other forms of biometric identifiers include fingerprint recognition. This is something Disney Land introduced in the last few years to ensure tickets were being used by the same person from day to day. Iris recognition scans the eyes. Also, DNA, hand geometry, and ‘token-based’ recognition exist. You tend to see these when displaying your passport or ID card at places like airports and border control.
These days, this security protects the operations of many businesses and public sectors, including government, military, security and banking. Facial recognition employs a 99% accuracy rate. And it also serves as a more concrete method of authorization over standard password or keypad encryption. These basic means can easily be exploited by hackers. It’s near enough impossible to replicate the human face with every microscopic pattern, texture, and detail without having access to that kind of technology yourself. This is why it serves as such a full-proof, viable method of identification in today’s modern world.
A Brief History of Facial Recognition
Woody Bledsoe pioneered facial recognition software in the mid-1960s. His friends Helen Chan Wolf and Charles Bisson aided Bledsoe in his efforts. Even though it was they who worked together to come up with the original concept, the project itself was privately funded by an unknown intelligence agency. This meant that much of the group’s work was not published. And anything that was, gained very little traction or publicity.
According to historic references, the original technology scanned various landmarks of a person’s face. Eye centers, mouth, shape of cheekbones, jawline lengths etc. were “mathematically rotated” by a computer.This covers a variety of different poses, as well as the distance between the landmarks/features to help calculate and determine a subject’s identity. They tested the practicality of this approach using a large database of facial images.
A year later, Bledsoe’s work was carried on by the Stanford Research Institute. They continuously challenged the technology, with it outperforming humans nearly every time. Fast-forward to 1997. The system had further development at a university in Germany, as well as a university in Southern California. It was here that the software eventually sold as the ‘ZN-Face’. Brands such as Deutsche Bank and airport operators were some of the first to adopt this new and extremely “robust” technology. They observed how it was even able to differentiate identities based on mustaches, beards, hair styles and even sunglasses. By 2006, the recognition algorithms were 100 times more accurate compared to the ones in 1995. They were even able to distinguish between twins.
The Transition into 3D
When 3D really hit the market, technicians applied these techniques into facial recognition software. This helped it capture and determine more information, such as the shape of a person’s face, the contour of their eye sockets, nose and chin, as well as the overall surface area. The main advantage of incorporating 3D techniques was the fact that its performance was not affected by changes in lighting, unlike other recognition systems. It could also determine different angles of the face to give a solid, profile view using sensors and tracking cameras.
Facial Recognition in the Modern World
The innovative genius the technology became apparent. But these days facial recognition is seen in many normal day to day operations and scenarios. Many mobile applications (particularly banks) favor fingerprint and facial recognition technology over passwords. And it’s not just due to the accuracy either. Every business strives to make the customer journey more fluid and effective. Because access is instant for the authorized user on FR apps, it saves that person time and convenience as well.
Even third-party social media apps use the technology. A Facebook research group introduced something known as DeepFace back in 2007. They trained it on over 4 million different digital images, producing 97% accuracy (higher than the FBI’s Next Generation Identification System). Often, people use similar applications and websites for entertainment purposes. You can now see what you would look like if you were old, fat, bald, the opposite sex, and even a cartoon!
How Casinos Utilize Facial Recognition
First of all, why would casinos even need to use facial recognition? As far as gambling goes, casinos have one of the biggest ‘open doors’ policy. That’s because they want to attract as many visitors to spend as much money inside their establishments as possible. So why an earth would such a thing be necessary?
Think about the back rooms in casinos where they store all the cash, as well as the surveillance rooms. Naturally these kinds of places need to be heavily guarded and kept secure. According to the Nevada Gaming Association, a casino stores up to $70 million in cash on an average week day. It’s close to $100 million on a weekend.
Another reason casinos are beginning to adopt FR, is to prevent underage gamblers entering the premises. It also stops those who have been previously blacklisted or banned from simply waltzing through the doors. What is the most prominent advantage this kind of technology gives casinos? It’s the ability to spot fraudsters, and people attempting to cheat the house in real-time.
A biometric-powered technology called CASINO-ID captures images of every person that enters the casino through their own CCTV systems. This information is then fed into a database which compares facial features. It allows the casino to accurately pin-point the hopeful hustlers. Then have the individual(s) removed from the building. These kind of security measures can be extremely costly to the establishment. But in the long-run it is far more worthwhile having these things in place, as opposed to giving scammers the ability to take from the casino.
Public Concerns
As beneficial this all is for the casino, not everybody who walks in is particularly happy about the idea of this Big Brother-like crackdown. Most people see cameras in a casino as an added means of security, which is understandable. But, when people find out they are being more than just watched, and actually having their faces scanned – it can put them on edge and naturally make them feel uncomfortable. It’s the same psychological effect of that feeling before you go to a medical exam. You know you’re perfectly healthy, but the idea of someone analyzing you makes you anxious. Another example are the nerves you can feel when a police officer is near. You know you’ve not done anything wrong. But because you know for a second that you are being assessed, it can put you on edge for no real reason.
Some industry experts would even go as far as saying that Facial Recognition in casinos could be considered an infringement on customer privacy. Technically this is not the case. The CCTV systems that capture the information work in a similar way to the cameras present in public places, like most shops, clubs, hotels and even streets.
Other Technologies Casinos Use
Aside from facial recognition, there are other means of security measures that some casinos take. Some of them you may or may not even be aware of!
License Plate Readers
Before you even step foot into the casino, the chances are that the vehicle you drive has already been registered onto the establishment’s database. Cameras take a picture of the license plate and uses something called “optical character recognition” software. This converts the numbers and letters into text. This data is then compared against the registration plates of well-known problem gamblers, or players who have caused some kind of disturbance to the casino in the past. If your license plate flags on their systems, a security guard will usher you off the premises before you’ve even had a chance to say blackjack.
Angel Eye
Most people are fully aware that they are being watched on camera when they’re inside a casino. But the Angel Eye is little bit more sophisticated than your standard CCTV surveillance. It is mainly used to closely monitor the cards in games like baccarat. The system relies on unique bar codes placed on each of the cards with invisible ink. As the dealer hands out the cards, a sensor in the dealing shoe keeps track of the cards dealt and transfers this info back to a computer. After he deals all the cards, the dealer presses the button on the shoe to verify the results. If they don’t match those of what it is on the computer, you can expect a firm hand on your shoulder pretty soon.
RFID Chips
Stands for ‘Radio Frequency Identification’, something very commonly used in casino chips these days. The chips contain unique serial identifiers which emit a signal using radio frequencies. These frequencies feed back to the chip cashing booth, which can verify any counterfeit ones in the mix. It also allows the casino to keep track of any chips lent out to players. They can deactivate anything stolen from the establishment. One man did attempt to do exactly that at the Bellagio casino. He tried to walk out with almost $1.5 million in chips last year. Obviously the casino found out and simply turned off the chips transmitters, making them instantly worthless.
TableEye21
Similar to the Angel Eye, the TableEye21 also operates through a camera to keep track of all activity carried out on the floor. It uses a mixture of RFID Chips and video analysis. Real-time information of the chips and cards dealt gets analyzed and conveyed. TableEye21’s software keeps track of all the stats and data produced on each game. Casinos are able to quickly identify anyone seen to be counting cards or rogue dealers going against the grain to help people cheat.
NORA
This piece of technology acts as a screening measure for new casino recruits. And it can also identify notorious scammers and hustlers previously convicted of criminal activity inside casinos. It can also find correlations between multiple people as well. So if 2 players belonged to the same crime ring back in the 90s, NORA can alert security immediately. The software currently runs all over the world. It even helped to identify links between potential terrorists during the 9/11 attacks.
Conclusion
It’s quite understandable that casinos and establishments housing so much cash need to introduce such measures in order to protect their assets, staff and the players. As technology and the world’s digital footprint advances, so do the tactics and hacking methods of conmen and casino cheats. So who knows what technology will counteract illegal activity inside casinos in another 10 years’ time?
Maybe all of the dealers and security staff will be replaced with AI that performs X-ray scans on players as the walk in. And maybe hackers will develop a kind of “chip” that they can inconspicuously attach to an AI to make its circuitry malfunction. It may get to the point where it overlooks all cheating attempts or makes them a default winner every time. It’s very fascinating to think where both sides will end up eventually. But until then, the future remains mysteriously uncertain!
