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RFID Casino Chips
scubacuda writes "Could casinos be the next Gillette or Wal-Mart? New Scientist and others report that casinos could soon start using RFID tags to spot counterfeits and thefts, and also to monitor the behaviour of gamblers. Embedded RFID tags should make the chips much harder to counterfeit, and placing tag readers at staff exits could cut down on theft by employees.
(With companies like Infosys helping clients identify and plan pilot RFID projects, we'll no doubt be seeing more and more companies dabbling in this area. Those interested in reading objections to RFID use should check out the position paper issued by CASPIAN, EPIC, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, Junkbusters, ACLU, Meyda Online, EFF, and PrivacyActivism.)"
So they now have to stop in the kitchen to wrap that stack of $100.00 chips in tinfoil before they leave...
rfid is not a theft prevention solution for small items.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
This most likely will happen.
I used to work doing data visualisation for casinos - nice pretty visualisations showing slot machine usage. It was a huge hit with the casinos that used it. Most casinos use customer cards you see - you earn bonus points for awards if you put your card in the reader of the slot machine while you play. That allows the the casino to track your slot machine spending. More importantly it allows you to create visualisations of slot activity broken down by demographics (of course they collect a few personal details when they assign you your awards card...) so that they can better direct promotions, reorganise the slots on the floor (knowing where to place a bank of new slot machines can be worth a few million dollars!) etc.
The big problem was that while you could track turnover volume on the gaming tables, you just couldn't track the movement of players very well - there was just no information on that. With this they can have you swipe your awards card when you collect your chips, then watch those chips disperse about the tables. More importantly they can track the ebb and flow - movement vectors for the chips about the floor - that can be very useful information.
This will be a huge boon to the casino industry, who are always lookign for that new way to fleece a few more dollars of the statistically ignorant.
Jedidiah.
Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
RFIDs can be used for good. My Ford Focus ZTW has a RFID chip on the key. If the correct ID isn't there the car won't (and shouldn't atleast) start. Adding extra keys and programming them is a simple task too.
IMO this shouldn't raise the same concern that the Wal-Mart problem does, which could be a real nightmare.
"And a voice was screaming: 'Holy Jesus! What are these goddamn animals?'" - HST
It shows that you really do play, thanks for posting tgd.
People whose gambling experience consists of losing a roll of nickles in a slot machine, don't get it: You don't really want anonymity. You want the casino to know you're there, that you're playing, etc. You want to play in tourneys. You want comps. You want them to know you played, win or lose. If you're not picking up comps, you're missing half the strategy.
You don't want anonymity, you want them to notice you and say "Hello mister TGF, can I get you anything?"
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This isn't a privacy issue. If you think you have one spec of anonymity or privacy in a casino, you're nuckin futs.
Excellent point that sums up the whole thing. After all, the entire point of a casino is to prey on peoples' willing suspension of disbelief.
How can anyone who walks in and puts their cash on the table think that the casino companies aren't going to fleece them from the moment they enter? That those ridiculously overdone venues with their flashing neon lights just built themselves out of the Nevada desert?
On the other side of the roulette wheel, you have people who *do* think they can beat the house... the people who buy lottery tickets at home in blissful ignorance of the laws of mathematics.
Neither of these groups is going to care about RFID. One group knows that they're entering a fantasy world, and the other wouldn't believe you if you told them.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
They'll almost certainly assign a unique ID to each chip. So, if you turn in a bunch of chips that all have the same id number, it would be like going into the bank and depositing $1000 in twenties all of which have identical serial numbers.
If, as you seem to suggest, you compile a list of valid ID numbers, they can still get you because they could store data on where the chip is located. If the computer tells the cashier that half the chips you're turning in are supposed to be in the vault, you're busted.
Rank Presidents by th
Something that can fail isn't the customers fault...if it was proven otherwise to be genuine.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I was at the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas two years ago (during Defcon), and the dealer there was showing us how to count cards while we played. This is the same Hard Rock that got taken for huge amounts of money by the MIT card counting crew. The dealer told us that they will usually let you count cards, even if they know you are doing it, unless you start winning a lot of money. The reason: Amateur card counters tend to make mistakes that benefit the house. Unless you are really good at card counting, you may be better off sticking with basic strategy.
He had a good point, but the next year I went back and they had installed continuous card shufflers at most of their tables. You can't count cards against these machines since there is no beginning or end to the shoe.
In Atlantic City (as far as I remember -- its been awhile), they have to let you play. But they can instruct their dealers to do a lot of things to make your life as a counter quite miserable. Like only work very shallow into the shoe, for starters.
They can also force you to flat-bet (bet the same amount every hand during the shoe), which pretty much defeats the main purpose of card counting.
I know people are worried that a casino will start tracking that a Customer Relations person gave a well-known married male High Roller $1000 chip number 87654321 which four hours later was cashed by a woman of "questionable employment." Is it fair that the casino now knows the "social habits" of that high roller? Probably not. Suppose the well-know high roller was a Senator.
If casinos starting ratting out the actions of the high rollers, highrollers would just go somewhere else.
I saw an interview with a guy who helps highrollers out (forget the "official name")....
it was deffinatly suggested that not only do the Casinos know about the girls, booze and drugs, in some cases they faciliate it.
In your example, if they found that the high rollers chips were getting spent by a women of questionable employment, they'd probably just check to make sure the high roller was happy with the "Services rendered" and make sure he wasn't robbed.