Lawrence Ho owns Melco Crown Entertainment and he is reportedly increasing his technology to ensure banned players cannot get back into his casino. On February 15, 2016 it was announced that the casino will be the first in Asia to install face recognition software. The software was developed by Cognitec, a biometric company in Germany. The system is called Face VAC Video Scan. It is capability is to use live video stream to detect people’s faces. These faces are then compared to a banned person’s database.
If the technology finds a match, the information is recorded and the photos will be logged. The security will then get a real-time alert as to where the player is located to help the staff get the player removed.
The company stated the software “allows to compute demographical information, client behavior, people movement in time and space, and frequent visitors.”
Stephen Meltz of Cognitec stated, “Melco Crown’s security team welcomed Cognitec’s technical specialists to work determinedly towards the completion of these projects. We are proud to deliver the first system of its kind in the casino market.”
Melco Crown operates to Macau casinos: Studio City and City of Dreams.
Leory Daniel, who is the executive director of surveillance for the casinos said the project, “will result in safer casino environments for casino staff and patrons.”
According to crime statistics for 2015, 1,553 gaming related crimes occurred in the city state. This is up from 1,125 cases that were reported in the previous year. Many of the crimes occur inside the casino. Crime statistics also state false imprisonment cases rose 135 per cent to 308 and about 70 per cent of those cases occurred inside casinos. Loan sharking was up 35.6 per cent to 240 in the last year. The victims of false charges were mostly non-Macau residents. The cameras and software is meant to help stop these cases.