Gambling venues exploring controversial face-recognition tech

According to recent findings, some gaming facilities in Australia utilise face recognition to verify their patrons. 

In order to address gambling addiction, Endeavour Group – Australia’s biggest hotel and beverage company – revealed intentions to use a face recognition system in October 2021. Additionally, Star Entertainment asserts that its Sydney casino employs such a system to lessen the possibility of admission by prohibited players.  

Worldwide, facial recognition is a controversial subject. It is accused of being racially prejudiced, amongst many other things. Its usage is prohibited in several states in the US and other places. Australia, meanwhile, has not yet authorised any limitations or prohibitions.

Retailers assert that loss control is achieved using a face recognition system. Critics, though, think businesses may exploit the information for marketing purposes. According to the consumer advocacy group Choice, major Australian retailers K-Mart and The Good Guys claim to utilise face recognition technology to improve the shopping experience for their patrons. The majority of individuals, however, view it as a privacy violation and an exploitation of their personal information.

Queensland authorities started making adjustments to casino laws last month in response to the failure of Crown Resorts in multiple Australian jurisdictions as well as Star Sydney’s latest scandal. Star intends to avoid difficulties by effectively adhering to both present and prospective rules with the aid of face recognition.

It could discover, though, that its approach is the inappropriate one. Depending on the area, the notification to customers that the technology is in operation varies. In some instances, it is just tiny, subtle indicators. Customers seldom receive online alerts from other stores.

Australian police are seeing similar outcomes from their use of face recognition technology. Even though there is no law authorising them to utilise the national databases, they have exploited both state and national databases for their objectives. 

Risk involved with face recognition technology

The commercial face recognition software from Clearview AI, which authorities used, was found to violate Australians’ privacy by the Commissioner of Information in Australia. The same technology is currently being used by the government of Ukraine to detect Russian soldiers who died in battle.

The fact that law enforcement and retailers are already actively utilising the technology and that Star has admitted to using it means that there is not much that can prohibit corporations from selling data.

Numerous lawsuits are currently pending in courts across the US, Europe, and Australia due to the usage of technology and customers’ absence of authorisation. The prolific 7-Eleven convenience store chain was flagged by regulators for the theft of faceprints of more than 1.6 million customers in Australia in a survey.

According to 7-Eleven, the faceprint data was collected to build demographic details and prevent employees from lying on questionnaires. The chain was found guilty, but there was no fine or other punishment imposed on it.

Legislative bodies are having conversations about how to address the problem, but progress has been slow thus far. While this is going on, it’s possible that online bookmakers and casino sites will trade personal information about players without their knowledge.

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