The equipment is expected to help identify when one of the estimated 15,000 people who have voluntarily excluded themselves from Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation sites enters an OLG gaming site, an OLG representative said.
The new system “couldn’t come soon enough,” said Michelle Nogueira, an addictions counsellor at Homewood Health Centre.
She said she advises all her clients with casino addictions to sign up for OLG’s self-exclusion list.
OLG spokesperson Tony Bitonti said 233 problem gamblers have added themselves to the list at Mohawk Racetrack and 45 at Grand River Raceway.
By May, all OLG sites will have the facial recognition system installed, at a cost of about $3 million to $5 million per site.
“It’s to create a consequence for those on the list. It will be a deterrent,” Bitonti said. “This is an incredibly big step for the program.”
When the system is operating, each person entering OLG sites will be scanned and images of their face will be compared to photos of those that have sought to ban themselves. Facial characteristics such as bone structure and distance between the eyes, nose and mouth will be used to identify those on the list. If the computer finds a match, security is notified. If not, the scanned image is discarded, and gamblers may play away.
Facial recognition technology will replace the current system, which Nogueira said is flawed.
“When I have advised clients to enrol, some have said, ‘No, because it doesn’t work’ … and others have said, ‘I’m already on the list, and I still gamble,’ ” Nogueira said.
The current system relies too heavily on security and personnel’s ability to remember the faces of those on the list, Nogueira said. “Clients have told me they are enrolled but are going to the casino without detection.”
Calling the new facial recognition technology a “step in the right direction,” Nogueira said the self-exclusion list should be paired with counselling and treatment to deal with the problem of gambling.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Melanie Karalis
Quelle/Source: The Record, 21.01.2011
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