Macau’s gaming regulator has restricted the use of certain types of digital surveillance tools in the territory’s casinos that could hamper their ability to employ advanced player-tracking technologies.
A directive from the government’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination prohibits (known by its Portuguese initials DICJ) equipment the agency hasn’t approved following a recent Bloomberg report detailing how operators had begun to use hidden cameras, facial recognition technologies and digitally enabled poker chips and baccarat tables to track gamblers and their betting behavior.
The DICJ also has directed the six casino licensees to comply with local laws pertaining to their use of personal data, underlining that surveillance tools, including facial recognition, are permissible only for security purposes, and that using the data for purposes beyond that, such as for market analysis, requires consent from players.
