Face biometrics and AI prove to be jackpot for gaming regulators and casino security

Gambling IQ has submitted recommendations to the UK Gambling Commission, naming vendors that can implement digital identity and AI-assisted age verification for online and land-based gambling.

In a news release, the London-based gaming advisory and consultant lists the identity verification firms Persona, Signzy and Jumio as potential vendors the government regulators could tap to help address problem gambling. Persona provides flexible orchestration for end-to-end automated identity operations, and can reverify a player at any point in their customer journey. Signzy’s video KYC works to mitigate risks associated with unauthorized gambling, and Jumio also excels in the KYX, AML and risk assessment spaces.

Gambling IQ also singled out Yoti’s 98 percent effective, AI-driven facial age estimation system as a tool for strengthening age verification at gambling terminals. The system takes a photo of potential players and uses AI software to determine within two seconds if the person is old enough to play.

The recommendations follow on Gambling IQ’s latest industry report, “A Responsible Revolution: Unlocking Effective Digital Identity & AI Technology to Prevent Financial Risk, Underage, and Problem Gambling,” to which Biometric Update contributed a section on the maturity of the age assurance and ID verification markets.

Gambling IQ’s other suggested implementations include AI for behavioural analysis to monitor triggers and spending habits in real time, and personalized interventions to players in crisis. Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI) and its associated digital wallet technology was lauded for secure communication, data integrity and re-usable verified authentication credentials, which bind a private key to face biometrics for proof-of-personhood.

Australian hotels use biometrics to ID excluded patrons

The ArtHouse Hotel and Gregory Hills Hotel in Sydney are among entertainment venues for which the compliance software provider AusComply has integrated Corsight AI’s facial recognition technology as a harm minimization tool.

According to a release, the partnership comes ahead of the imminent launch of an industry-led self-exclusion register designed to expedite and simplify resolutions in identifying and apprehending banned of self-excluded gamblers. While wearing a hat or funny glasses might fool tired security personnel, facial recognition software will be harder to bamboozle.

Jason Thomas, the founder and managing director of AusComply, called Corsight AI’s facial recognition AI “a robust system that can cope with a vast number of venue challenges, including detection from cameras located high and at challenging angles and in conditions of almost total darkness and smoke.” The largely camera-agnostic system connected to the nearly two century old ArtHouse Hotel’s existing infrastructure and was operating within two and a half hours.

As with any surveillance system – even one designed to mitigate harm – privacy and security are paramount concerns. Sean Borg, the managing director of Oceania for Corsight AI, said the system’s links to watch list databases means it is as unobtrusive as possible. “Since anyone who is not watch listed is instantly blurred from the camera feeds and all digital residue of their face is instantly cleared from the system for good,” said Borg, “we are able to protect people’s privacy while complying with GDPR laws and Australia’s new model law.”

Webinar shuffles the facial recognition deck

The biometrics firm eConnect sponsored a webinar exploring the future of facial recognition in casinos, entitled Face the Future: New Roles in Casino Surveillance and Facial Recognition.

In the webinar, Malcolm Rutherford, the executive VP of strategic operations for eConnect, describes the use of AI and facial recognition as a “paradigm shift in how casinos and the surveillance departments within casinos operate.”

“You are going to have facial recognition in your casino, at some point,” says Rutherford. “It will become ubiquitous.”

Henry Valentino, President and CEO of eConnect, cites vast improvements in the accuracy of facial recognition as a driver for adoption, and agreed with Rutherford that even security teams that are not using facial recognition should prioritize capturing biometric data. “You’re trying to create a database of faces that you can search very quickly,” he says.

Elsewhere in the world, authorities are opting for a card-based approach to regulation. For instance, since January 2022, Denmark has employed a credentialed gaming card, designed to restrict access to gambling kiosks for youth and gambling addicts. The card identifies self-excluded players and stops players from exceeding pre-set limits.

Article Topics

age verification  |  biometrics  |  casinos  |  Corsight  |  eConnect  |  face biometrics  |  gambling  |  Gambling IQ