Facial scans coming to Slots

Facial scans coming to Slots

FRASERVILLE -- The Slots at Kawartha Downs is taking greater steps to prevent problem gamblers who are seeking help from relapsing and entering gambling facilities.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming facility on County Rd. 28 is one of 27 across the province that's getting equipped with face recognition scanners. The equipment is expected to be in place by May.

Paul Pellizzari, director of policy and social responsibility for the OLG, said the scanner system is meant for "self-excluders."

People fighting a gambling addiction have the option of flagging themselves as an at-risk person through the OLG's responsible gambling program.

Ontario casinos have a self-excluder's identification and a photograph, he explained, and casino security will remove that person from the building if recoginized after stepping into a facility.

"The person has given us consent to basically stop them and remove them from the site."

The new scanners, similar in appearance to a security camera, are an evolution of that program.

Anyone on the self-exclusion list will get a picture taken by a special camera specifically designed for facial recognition, Pellizzari explained. That image is then stored in a database.

Special cameras placed in casinos will scan faces and be able to detect and match a face if that person's image is stored in the database.

If a match is made, he said, security would take steps to verify the person's identity before removal from the building.

The cameras do scan all faces, whether a person is on the selfexclusion list or not.

Pellizzari said the system was designed in partnership with the province's privacy commissioner.

"Privacy of people's personal information is utmost importance."

If a face isn't in the database, he said, that face is immediately deleted from the system.

The technology took about 2 1/2 years to design. Pellizzari said the OLG is still in the process of constructing and wiring casinos for the new devices.

NOTES: Anyone on the selfexclusion list who walks into a casino can be charged with trespassing.... For more information on the OLG's responsible gaming programs visit www.knowyourlimit.ca.