{"id":32757,"date":"2022-08-18T04:42:51","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T07:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=32757"},"modified":"2026-04-23T05:45:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T08:45:41","slug":"australia-clubs-act-proposes-trial-of-facial-recognition-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/australia-clubs-act-proposes-trial-of-facial-recognition-technology","title":{"rendered":"Australia: Clubs ACT proposes trial of facial recognition technology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s intended that self-excluded problem gamblers would benefit from the technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Australia.- Clubs ACT CEO Craig Shannon <\/strong>has proposed a trial of facial recognition software, in order to keep problem gamblers out of Canberra clubs. The technology would trigger an alert if someone who has registered for self-exclusion enters a venue’s gaming area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon said the system would only be installed in venues’ gaming areas, allowing those who signed up for exclusion to continue using the food and bar areas. He pointed out that currently, self-excluded players may be missed if they enter the gaming area from the restaurant or bar when staff are busy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facial recognition technology<\/a>\u00a0has already been\u00a0installed in more than 80 per cent of gambling venues in South Australia<\/strong>, including casinos and clubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shannon said: “The system is based around the idea that an individual who chooses to self-exclude from a club, who is already part of the self-exclusion regime, would be photographed if they went into a gambling area only.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the proposal raised some doubts about privacy and consent. Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury<\/strong> said: “I’m not clear that’s the best way forward.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rattenbury added: “We’ve certainly encouraged the clubs to engage with the Gambling and Racing Commission to talk about the details of that, to consider restrictions and privacy legislation. Also, whether their customers really want this or whether there are other ways we might actually seek to minimise gambling harm.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\u00a0South Australian Consumer and Business Services (CBS)<\/strong>, said venues must notify self-excluding customers that\u00a0a record of their facial image will be made<\/strong>\u00a0through the new facial recognition system. Casino operators were warned\u00a0they cannot use the system to encourage patrons to gamble<\/strong>, for example by using them to offer special bonuses or other incentives.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Aino Suomi<\/strong>, director of the Australian National University Centre for Gambling Research, there are few published studies about the use of facial recognition technology to prevent gambling issues in Australia. However, she said there had been some promising results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, Australia is working on different options to control gambling behaviour. In July, the government of New South Wales announced a plan to introduce\u00a0cashless gaming machines<\/a>. Wests Group\u2019s Newcastle club will be the first venue to test the new cashless technology for three months. The trial will begin with 38 slot machines from Aristocrat Leisure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cashless technology will be linked to the player\u2019s identity and bank account. It also involves a Bluetooth connection between the player\u2019s phone and the machine, allowing funds to be transferred directly from the phone to the machine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s intended that self-excluded problem gamblers would benefit from the technology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":12067,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Clubs ACT CEO Craig Shannon has proposed a trial of facial recognition technology in Canberra clubs to enhance self-exclusion enforcement within gaming verticals, mirroring existing deployments in South Australia. This initiative, while aimed at strengthening responsible gambling frameworks, has prompted significant debate regarding data privacy and consent, necessitating close engagement with regulatory bodies. Concurrently, New South Wales is advancing trials of cashless gaming machines, signaling a broader regulatory push towards sophisticated player protection and transaction oversight within the Australian iGaming and land-based sectors.","focusai_entities":"Clubs ACT, Craig Shannon, Shane Rattenbury, Gambling and Racing Commission, South Australian Consumer and Business Services (CBS), Aino Suomi, Australian National University Centre for Gambling Research, Wests Group, Aristocrat Leisure","focusai_location":"Australia, Canberra, South Australia, New South Wales, Newcastle","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.8), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Regulatory Compliance Impact","query":"What are the specific legal and privacy framework adjustments required for widespread facial recognition deployment in Australian gaming venues, particularly concerning biometric data storage and consent mechanisms?"},{"label":"Tech Adoption ROI","query":"How do operators quantify the return on investment for facial recognition and cashless gaming systems, considering implementation costs, potential GGR impacts, and enhanced regulatory compliance?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[16336,23876],"tags":[229,23907],"class_list":["post-32757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australasia-news","category-social-news","tag-gambling","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32757"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32764,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32757\/revisions\/32764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}