A facial-recognition system that registers all players at each slot machine and table game can increase gaming revenue dramatically, Mallika Patel says.
The key is that it enables operators to identify high-value uncarded players and offer personalized incentives to return, explained Patel, vice president of product for Xailient. The company, pronounced ZAY-lee-int, manufactures Casino Eye-D, which features cost-effective miniature cameras with built-in AI that integrate with casino-management systems by Konami, Light & Wonder, and other providers.
“If (a casino) can rate all uncarded play and convert the most profitable non-members into members, just think about how the gross gaming revenue can increase,” Patel said. Across the United States, existing loyalty programs track an average of just 15 percent of a casino’s patrons and 45 percent of its gaming revenue.
Casino Eye-D, which debuted at the 2024 Global Gaming Expo, will be featured this year at the Konami and L&W booths. The company says deployments at top-tier global casinos are in process, with formal announcements expected by the end of the year.
Xailient was a pioneer in smart-home technology, developing the world’s smallest and fastest face recognition to fit on tiny devices running on exceptionally low power.
Patel said Xailient’s patented approach of putting AI capability within each camera reduces operator cost and ot requires no additional data storage. “All the hard work is being done on the camera itself,” she explained. “We fit this AI tech into the cameras on extremely low-cost chipsets.” At a slot machine, the Casino Eye-D camera typically is positioned near the TITO dispenser. A table game usually has two unobtrusive cameras, each mounted on a small post near the dealer.
Casino Eye-D essentially eliminates the need for a physical players club card. The AI takes less than a second to recognize whether a player is a loyalty club member. For a member, the AI opens a session; a nonmember is assigned a unique code, allowing the self-learning AI to recognize that person when they go to another game, whether that’s in a few minutes or several months.
Xailient estimates that Casino Eye-D will enable operators to rate 99 percent of players and 95 percent of the money in play. While a study at University of Nevada Las Vegas found that loyalty clubs raise gross gaming revenue by 3 percent, Patel said Casino Eye-D could double that through increased participation. In addition, replacing physical loyalty cards with facial recognition eliminates costly card-sharing fraud, she said.
Casino Eye-D cameras can also be installed at player kiosks, point-of-sale terminals, ATMs, TITO redemption machines, and cashier cages. While the primary focus is making the loyalty experience completely seamless, Patel said Casino Eye-D’s cameras also can help track transactions for AML requirements and guard against fraud. However, it’s not intended to be part of a casino’s surveillance/security system.
The cameras are built with additional applications in mind. They could be placed on hotel room doors for using facial recognition instead of keys. They also can be used for admission to sites such as spas or a members-only club. Patel said Xailient CEO and co-founder Lars Oleson, formerly with the global digital wallet provider Aliplay, envisions Casino Eye-D at all touch points in a casino to make the customer experience seamless throughout, even using facial recognition to make digital payments.
Casino Eye-D recently added the option for a “mood engine,” which Patel said analyzes a patron’s expressions to determine whether they appear to be happy, angry, or sad, for example. She said the primary use is to note early indicators of distress and follow the strict RG protocols of some overseas jurisdictions. In the United States, operators initially will use it primarily for game engagement, she said.
While Xailient is somewhat new to casino industry, Konami and Intel approached the company about developing an AI solution to issues surrounding loyalty cards, Patel said. “What Xailient brings is the ability to do this in a cost-sensitive way and make casinos a 360-degree-touchpoint completely cardless experience.”
