How Technology is Reducing Cheating
For as long as there have been casinos, there has been cheating. Ever since the first humans started playing card games, there was always someone who wanted to cheat the game for bigger rewards. Our basic human nature is to blame here.
We all want to be better than the guy across the table. It’s just that some people go to extraordinary lengths to make it happen. Land based casinos are the obvious targets for cheaters and scammers. A popular casino can have thousands of players wondering the casino floor at any time. This makes it almost impossible to spot every player who is cheating or in collaboration with a corrupt dealer.
One of the reason’s online casinos have become so prolific is because it is practically impossible to cheat. Many of the cheating techniques used in land based casinos revolve around the physical contact of players with the tables and the cards. Card counting for instance relies on players physically seeing the decks and each card as it is dealt. Hole carding is another way players can get the better of the casino. This is where players target a clumsy dealer who flashes his cards during a deal.
The Benefits of Gambling Online
With online casinos, random number generators produce the gaming results and the cards are never shown during the deal. Players also don’t have the ability to produce fake cards, fake dice or get a video feed about which hand their opponent is playing. Not only is online gambling safer for the players, but for the casino as well. So what can land based casinos do to curb this problem. This has been a question that every land based casino has asked their security advisers on a regular basis. The good news for casino owners is that technology is here to lend a hand.
What Casinos Are Up Against?
In the early 70’s and 80’s land based casinos were targeted by hordes of cheaters that took advantage of the relaxed security measures. At the time, video surveillance technology was in its infancy and the screening of patrons was basically impossible.
Today the tables have turned. Modern surveillance technology has got to a point where facial recognition symptoms can scan and flag individuals who have been banned from casinos in the area. The security starts at the door with basic ID checks on all patrons which gets scanned through the casino database.
Many land based casinos have also started banning the wearing of Google Glass smart glasses. While mainly a precautionary measure, smart glasses have the ability to link up to smartphone and receive data that only the wearer can see.
You can imagine how these would benefit a player who is sitting at a poker table and his accomplice is sitting watching the other players. All it would take is a symbol text message to reveal what the player is up against.
Real Time Behaviour Analysis
While you may not know it, casinos have highly trained staff that are trained to look out for strange and inconsistent behaviour at a casino table. These people are trained to spot players who appear to expect the outcome of a game, thereby revealing that they already know the outcome. Here technology is able to step in again.
Systems are already being tested to pick up abnormal behaviour patterns by capturing their body language and facial expressions. While this may sound more like science fiction, it won’t be long until this type of security system is in place at all leading land based casinos. The technology itself can scan and monitor guests and dealers at multiple tables in real time and flag any abnormal behaviour.
