Clarity needed on Macau casino face recognition: lawyer

Jun 07, 2024 Newsdesk G2E Asia 2024, Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck  

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Macau’s casino industry could benefit from clearer guidelines on the use of face recognition technology on gaming floors, particularly for marketing purposes. That is the opinion of Graça Saraiva (pictured, centre right), legal consultant and data protection officer for casino operator Sands china Ltd.

“It would be good to have more specific and clear guidelines from the regulator in what concerns facial recognition technology at gaming tables,” Ms Saraiva said on Thursday. She was speaking during a panel session of the conference segment of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2024 casino industry trade show in Macau.

Ms Saraiva was responding to a question about the use of ‘smart’ gaming tables in the context of the Macau market, and how to take advantage of the functions offered by such types of equipment – including making use of facial recognition and artificial intelligence for business purposes – while ensuring player data protection.

“One thing is to use facial recognition technology [in casinos] for security purposes,” Ms Saraiva elaborated. “A totally different thing is using that technology for marketing purposes.”

She added: “Clear guidelines would be welcomed… to alleviate any [compliance] concerns, and also for gaming operators to be able to know with some certainty what they can and cannot do on that front.”

The Macau authorities have been encouraging use of smart tables as a way for the city’s industry to manage more effectively casino operations. In that regards, several Macau operators have recently flagged plans to use radio frequency identification (RFID) gaming tables.

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