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Following the Chips in Wynn's New Casino
ctwxman writes "As Steve Wynn gets set to open his new Las Vegas casino, something new hits the tables: RFID encoded chips they report that "The fancy new chips look just like regular ones, only they contain radio devices that signal secret serial numbers. Special equipment linked to the casino's computer systems and placed throughout the property will identify legitimate chips and detect fakes" " " Having stayed pretty much everywhere else cool on the strip, I'm sure I'll try the Wynn out soon after it opens, but I think I'll be cashing out my chips before I leave the casino. It makes me nervous knowing I could be unwittingly scanned by others after I leave the floor. Of course, this added inconvenience may save me a fortune in blackjack losses!
The range over which you can read RFID information in any sort of portable (ie: non-obvious) fashion is limited to a few inches. In fact, tuning the damn things so they'll read at (say: 4 or 5) inches is hard.
The readers that are designed for doorways can do roughly 2 feet, but they're huge and very very obvious - they're designed for store entrances, where they make you walk through the "gates" to get in/out of the store. You can't miss a 4-foot (max) separated row of columns covering all the exits...
RFID works by the reader exciting a sympathetic response in the tag (which is itself unpowered, though it rectifies the incoming RF energy to self-power), this response modifies the reader's waveform signal, overlaying an incredibly weak (roughly 1% of the incident waveform) signal on top. It is this weak modification to the reader's signal that has to be extracted and deconstructed into a bitstream.
Speaking as one whom RFID has tried, it's not an easy task to get any significant distance between tag and reader, and IM(NS
Aside: London Underground introduced an RFID-based system for block-purchase of tickets, promising it would read your "ticket" in your bag/pocket as you passed by. This claim was dropped on introduction, and they now advise you to swipe the reader with your tag as you go by...
Simon.
Physicists get Hadrons!
from the rejected submission bin:
funny-jack says: A small school in the San Francisco area has come up with the latest "innovative" use for RFID: tracking student attendance.
You probably shouldn't click this.
Back in the mid 1990s (1995-1997) when I was working for Casino Software Corporation of America, one of our major competitors already had this kind of system up and operating. Though I think thiers was ACTIVE RFID instead of Passive (was passive available that early?) they had readers in their blackjack table and even a scanner in the shoe to know what cards were where and who to pay out to. I always thought their system was a security hole- if you could grab the image off of the pit boss's system you would know the cards of everybody at all the blackjack tables. But their system sure did prevent the common "double payout" scam that was running around at the time (where the con man went to the table of a dealer he was paying under the table- and knew that he could get the bets paid incorrectly).
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
Another reason for RFID chips is that they can be used to automatically detect bet amounts, and thus can be used to better determine appropriate player comps. For example, with blackjack, simply place a RFID sensor under the box where the player places his bet, and with the appropriate software, the floorman can instantly see how much the player has been betting (and, perhaps, winning and losing, although that's a little more tricky).
Also makes cashing out in the poker room quite a bit quicker.
Foxwoods Casino in Conn. has been using these in a limited way for a year or two.
I'm sure I'll try the Wynn out soon after it opens, but I think I'll be cashing out my chips before I leave the casino.
I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to leave the property with the chips but even if you could, they won't be accepted at other casinos (especially since Wynn is not part of the major casino chains - unless you plan on playing in Wynn's property in Macau).
If you're concerned about going back to your room with chips because of theft - well, I think it's more suspicious redeeming them for cash in plain view.
The RFID features are meant to a) reduce theft, fraud and counterfeiting and b) reduce the time required to balance a table.
They don't care about you, they care about where all the $500/%1000 chips are.
They will see when it is put into a rack, taken out of a rack, and can match that up to the cameras if a particular dealer or shift is consistently low on their "take".
Casinos are far more worried about their EMPLOYEES stealing (or conspiring with accomplices) than their regular customers. You're giving your money away anyways, what do they care how you do it?
Perhaps these tags are mroe than a single chip, and have a small loop antenna. But so could casino chips. I'd expect multiple readers (up to one per gaming point, plus each seat & a series for the dealer) to be built-into gaming tables eventually.
I think anyone who's read Slashdot for any period of time knows that the post is in italics and anything else is by the editor who posted the story... This sort of writing happens ALL the time, no-one gets confused... at least I thought they didn't.
1. You don't need a friend. In roulette, you bet against the house - each player plays independently.
2. It's not a free weekend, but it is cheap.
3. You take your $500. Bet $13 each on 0 and 00. Bet $237 each on red and black (or odd and even, or any other 2:1 action). If 0 or 00 comes up, you get $468. If either red or black comes up, you get $474. Thus, your weekend costs you either $26 or $32. Of course, if you feel lucky, you can omit the 0 and 00 bets and simply bet $250 on red and black. The house then has a 5% chance of busting you completely, but you have a 94% chance of having a free weekend. Either way, you get paid in live chips, and can cash them in immediately.
4. In addition to the straight monetary costs, the hotel gets to make whatever interest it can having had hold of your money (usually) for a (sometimes lengthy) period of time in advance. And, of course, you run the relatively small risk of getting mugged with your $500 (or less) between the casino and your bank.
5. I haven't been to Nevada (I play poker, so I don't have to leave California) in a long time, but I recall hearing about such offers at least as late as the '80s, so it's possible it still goes on.