RFID Casino Chips

A high-tech method recently adopted by casinos and chip manufacturers to deal with counterfeit chips is RFID technology. The RFID chip looks no different from an ordinary chip, except that an RFID tag is embedded inside it, which is encoded with its currency value and other data. It also has radio equipment that broadcasts a secret serial number. Special equipment is installed in the casino’s computer system to identify legitimate chips and detect fake chips.

RFID technology is divided into low frequency and high frequency. Low-frequency (125 KHz) RFID chips are most suitable for tracking, counting, authentication, inventory and security purposes. High frequency (13.56 MHz) RFID combines the advantages of low frequency with sophisticated player tracking functions that can be integrated with other casino systems.

Benefits of RFID

Although security is a frequently mentioned benefit of RFID technology, the benefits of RFID go far beyond security.

Chip Security

This obvious benefit is related to preventing counterfeiters from cashing out fake chips. Due to RFID tags, if a chip is stolen, its ID can be marked as stolen in the casino's database, and the chip can easily be deactivated, preventing it from being exchanged for cash. Usually, only large-denomination chips ($1,000 to $25,000) have RFID tags inside.

Game Safety

A little-known security advantage is to ensure the accuracy and fairness of the games played by installing RFID readers in the gaming tables. This allows dealers to compare the number of chips on their own table with the total number displayed on the computer. The following are some aspects of game security.

Dealer errors-RFID technology can also be used to detect dealer errors.

Dealer theft-It can also catch dealer theft.

Cheating players-RFID technology can help casinos catch players who sneak extra chips to the table after the cards are dealt. It can also analyze game activity based on expected statistical results and flag players who are in a suspicious winning streak.

Profit and productivity optimization

In fact, they do much more than that. RFID chips are a form of security, but they are also a very accurate way of measuring casino activity.

Dealer Productivity-By looking at how many games are played per hour, this technology can assess the dealer’s speed and productivity.

Profit optimization-RFID technology can track the profit or loss of each table and allows the casino to optimize the total profit.

Credit Risk

Since credit risk is an important part of any casino operation, casinos can manage their credit risk by monitoring the credit chips they issue to players. If the chips issued to the player on credit sales are cashed out by others, this means that the player who receives the chips on credit sales may take out the chips for non-gambling purposes, such as lending to others.

Marketing

RFID technology can also help casinos by creating targeted marketing campaigns that are personalized to individual gamblers. The technology allows casinos to "rate" players, which means offering them rewards (free rooms or meals) based on the number and frequency of their bets.

But this technology also allows casinos to evaluate the performance of gamblers. Casinos usually reserve the best combination for their most "valuable" players—that is, the least skilled players. Currently, casino technology is very good at monitoring the scale of player activity, but it is not efficient in assessing player activity skills. The casino can only do this manually-by directly monitoring the player's activity. The only exception is a slot machine, which is essentially a computer that continuously analyzes information. The superior technology inside the slot machine has led to the slot machine generating most of the casino profits. Casino management hopes to replicate the analysis of slot machine usage and apply it to table games. Therefore, RFID can also allow casinos to evaluate players' skills and decisions on a large scale. Imagine walking to the craps table and being labelled as "the craps donkey" because you often choose the most attractive bet.

Chip Inventory

RFID allows casinos to improve the accuracy of chip counting and cage inventory procedures.

In Conclusion

Many casinos postpone the purchase of RFID chips because their costs are too high at this time. The technology has not kept up with the speed, because it takes a few seconds for the RFID reader to read all the chips on the table, which will slow down the game slightly.

RFID technology has raised some concerns among privacy activists who worry that the technology is too intrusive in monitoring people's activities. Although casino gambling is a completely voluntary activity, these concerns about Big Brother are relatively mild. In addition, most people are not worried about their privacy in the casino, because the casino is already very tightly monitored.