Casinos tend to be pretty good at keeping underage people away from gaming tables and machines. They don’t have a 100% hit rate, but overall, they do a solid job. Non-casino venues that have gaming machines like pubs generally have a more difficult time with it, as they are not trained gambling security professionals. In the UK, it looks like they will soon get some automated assistance, as Regal Gaming Technologies, which supplies gaming machines in the UK leisure sector, is going to roll out new machines with a camera to visually check to see if a player looks underage.
Regal is working with British company Yoti, which has developed the software for the system. Before a patron is permitted to play on a machine, they will be required to have their picture taken by the cabinet’s built-in camera (some are calling it a “selfie,” but I refuse, as the person is not taking the picture themselves). Yoti’s software will then determine if they are of age, just by how they look.
According to Yoti, the process takes just two seconds and its AI is 99.65% accurate when determining if someone is under the age of 23. With people between 13 and 19, the company says its software hits their age within 18 months of their true age (though that really means a three-year range, which I don’t know, doesn’t seem ALL that impressive in that specific age group).
Yoti says that players do not need to fear for their privacy, as the photos are deleted immediately and they are not uploaded anywhere or cross-checked with any databases. Players can also skip the gaming machine’s camera and scan a QR code using Yoti’s free app.
One would assume that customers who are of age, yet are flagged as too young, can still show identification to someone working at the venue, who can then override the machine, but that was not mentioned.
In the United States, slot machines are mostly restricted to casinos and regulated gambling venues, but in the UK, gambling machines about and betting shops are as common as McDonald’s is in the US. Underage gambling is a growing problem. According to a study by the UK Gambling Commission, more than 25% of children have played slots. Two-thirds of them were never stopped, even though facility staff – security or otherwise – are supposed to card people who look like they might be under 21.
Yoti’s camera-based technology is not just for the gambling sector. It is being tested at self-checkouts in UK supermarkets and will soon be used by Instagram in the UK to add another layer of age-verification.
