Simon Liddle discovers how RFID-enabled chips and plaques help boost security and improvements in performance.
Radio-frequency identification technology is deployed in a plethora of fields, from transport and logistics to sports, passports and - proving scientists have far too much time on their hands - monitoring the movement of ants. Of course, RFID is now a staple of the casino industry, helping not only to boost security but to speed up a range of operational activities on the gaming floor and in the accounting cage.
In the mid-1980s, a small company was formed in Perth, Australia, with the aim of developing RFID microchips and readers. Fast-forward a decade or so and, having relocated to Sydney, Magellan Technology unveiled Phase Jitter Modulation. It would be a few years before the company began making inroads into the gaming market with its high-frequency RFID, but in 2005 it signed a joint licensing, development and equity agreement with Progressive Gaming International that would see its PJM technology gain a foothold in the market for casino chips and plaques.
Gaming Partners International, meanwhile, had begun embedding RFID microchips in casino chips in the mid-90s based on the patents that it owned, as well as exclusive licences on separate patents for RFID-enabled equipment in the US. The latter came to be purchased by Shuffle Master in 2004 and a 50 per cent stake in the patents was acquired by US gaming giant IGT the following year.
IGT’s acquisition of these patents in 2005 and the announcement of a worldwide product integration agreement between IGT, Shuffle Master and Progressive Gaming was perceived by many to be an endorsement of RFID technology and its importance within the gaming industry.
Effectively, this patent and licence wrangling created a situation where operators could now choose chips and plaques that made use of either a low frequency RFID of 125KHz - developed for gaming applications by GPI - or the higher frequency of 13.56MHz.
Greg Gronau, president and chief executive officer of GPI, which offers equipment utilising both RFID frequencies, explained the difference between the two technologies: "125KHz RFID technology is very robust and easy to deploy. It is particularly well adapted to the chip security and chip counting and tracking applications.
"13.56MHz is faster and can do more but it is more sensitive. It can be used for security and accounting with the ability to be used for other applications such as player tracking."
RFID added another layer to casino security, bringing tangible benefits to operators without compromising the playing experience for customers.
"Most of the casinos that have RFID in their currency in either frequency are using it for security, automatic chip counting and tracking," said Gronau. "Others use RFID at the tables for chip accounting."
Australian chip manufacturer Dolphin Products supplies a full range of high security chips and plaques that utilise Magellan’s 13.56MHz PJM RFID technology. A specialist in high-tech plastics for over 50 years, the company made the move into producing gaming chips some 15 years ago and began marketing its first plaques over a year ago.
"I think Magellan developed its RFID technology in a way that can be used on a gaming table and can most accurately read stacks of chips in a more focused field," said Bryan Jenkins, director of business development for gaming. "Accurate reading and less interference allows the development of better applications. That’s the technology part.
"There is certainly an increased interest in adopting RFID, most new casinos or casinos that are renewing their banks will be likely to incorporate RFID to take advantage of the existing benefits as well as the potential to adopt newly developed applications."
Jenkins added that the demand for RFID-enabled casino currency is on the up, not least because attempts to defraud and steal from casinos are also increasing. Thankfully, RFID is proving a match for such criminal activities.
"There is no doubt a major reason for casinos to use RFID chips is to authenticate chips and plaques and to overcome counterfeiting," he asserted. "In recent years there has been an enormous increase in the efforts of counterfeiters but they cannot replicate RFID inlays. Dolphin has developed and patented the most efficient form of inserting RFID. We have a tamper-proof inlay that is destroyed if there is any attempt to access it."
Last year, Magellan negotiated a new licence with IGT, which took over PGIC’s stake in the company and its rights to license its RFID technology to other manufacturers.
One of these companies to license 13.56 MHz PJM RFID-enabled tags for use in its American chips, jetons and plaques is Abbiati Casino Equipment of Italy. Security is undoubtedly of paramount importance to operators and chief executive officer Giorgio Abbiati believes that they are beginning to realise the true value of integrated RFID technology.
"The RFID chips using the 13.56MHz PJM technology enables us to help casinos improve their performance in mission critical areas such as game speed," he said. "For an industry where time is money, being able to increase the speed of information is a huge benefit."
The company’s RFID Value Chip can be read at a rate of 800 pieces per second, with the information recorded to show the number of chips of each value, the total value per denomination and the sum total. RFID tags have also been incorporated in its plaques and jetons, giving them their own signature or ‘DNA’.
"This, together with the ability to identify and verify each movement of the plaques and jetons in real time," Abbiati continued, "gives the operator peace of mind when issuing the high value plaques and jetons onto the casino floor."
RFID chips and plaques look and feel like ordinary casino currency products but naturally the use of sophisticated embedded technology brings additional costs. Although some operators may be deterred by the added expense, this, however, is often offset by the security and operational improvements such equipment has to offer.
"Although having a somewhat higher price point than traditional chips, any increased costs associated with RFID chips and related technology are minimal compared to the return on investment enjoyed through improvement in operational efficiencies, reduction in errors and increase in speed of game play," said GPI’s Gronau.
Giorgio Abbiati agrees, stating that the initial outlay on RFID-enabled chips ought to be put into perspective.
"For sure chips and plaques enabled with RFID have a higher cost compared with ordinary chips and plaques," he said. "Still the price difference is not that significant if compared with the benefits of the new technology, which are very remarkable and repay the investment with better reliability and speed covering all areas of accounting, verification, security and player tracking."
Dolphin’s Jenkins suggests that the additional cost - estimated to be between $1 and $2 per RFID-enabled chip or plaque more than a typical chip - essentially pays for a highly secure and reliable system that complements and can be integrated with other casino security measures.
"RFID is secure and works with other security aspects," he said. "For example, we include our Dolphin DNA in our chips. This is a forensic level three feature; a complex barcode that cannot be deciphered and prevents counterfeiters from reproducing the authenticity code. Both these features are as secure as you can get but are differently detected and complement each other as an unimpeachable currency security team."
Towards the end of August this year, GPI announced that it had entered into an agreement with IGT to purchase its RFID Chip Manager and Chip Inventory Systems, as well as acquire the rights and licences for other RFID products and software. CIS enables operators to track the location and status of all chips throughout the casino from the cage to the gaming floor. Real-time monitoring of the inventory and instant validation of chip amounts and serial numbers ensures that casino management knows what’s happening with its chips at all times.
Abbiati’s chips are compatible with the system and Giorgio Abbiati believes it provides a comprehensive chip management solution for operators who have made the commitment to RFID.
"The Abbiati 13.56MHz PJM RFID chips have to be used in conjunction with the CIS, which will give the operator total control over all chip movements through the casino, with verification and authorisation at each stage," he said. "From acceptance into the vault, value to cage, cage to table/chip tray, table to table, and then back to the cage. All movements are recorded in real time, allowing the operator to have total visibility and information of all chip movements and table performance, with the added advantage of the security that the chips being played have been authorised."
GPI’s partnership with IGT is an important milestone in the development of RFID gaming applications, effectively allowing for a joined-up approach to the creation of innovative new products across both frequencies.
"This agreement allows GPI to now offer the most complete range of RFID products, in both low frequency and high frequency, to our valued customers," Gronau commented. "It also permits a unification of the fragmented RFID technology, allowing a ‘best of breed’ approach to the development of software applications and solutions.
"We envision RFID technology seamlessly integrating with all of the casino management systems in order to gather table game information as easily as slot machines information can now be gathered. One of our initial objectives is to work closely with the CMS providers to integrate our technologies in order to develop solutions that will capture and analyse table gaming play and player statistics."
Beyond implanting microchips into casino currency, the introduction of RFID has obviously seen the development of readers, sensors and other tracking equipment. In doing so, manufacturers have taken the concept of making chips more secure a step further by using RFID to speed up various accounting and tracking processes, as well as capturing additional revenue.
"I think the technology will move to the development of more revenue generation products," predicted Jenkins. "The defensive-type products for authentication and accounting are well developed and in use. What customers really want to see is the use of this technology in revenue generation."
Jenkins cites US-based Walker Digital Gaming’s Elite Baccarat as an example of how RFID can help drive revenues. The Elite table is currently the only RFID-enabled baccarat table capable of tracing hand outcomes, wagers, payouts and player ratings in real time.
"Walker Digital’s Elite Baccarat has received rave reviews and is seen as the first really working baccarat application," Jenkins said. "The Holy Grail is for the development of a player tracking and rating module that works. I think there is still some way to go to get this right; the technology works but controlling players’ habits is the hard part. The use of RFID in jackpot games is a very exciting potential development."
GPI is among those companies leading this charge, with a host of RFID applications that go some way to unlocking the full potential of the technology as a tool for generating additional revenue. Its RFIDPoker system, for example, provides error-free, automatic and constant reading of the poker pot, calculates charges and rakes, and provides essential data and statistics such as game analysis, table performances, round-up lists and daily totals. Crucially, RFIDPoker also helps to speed up the game itself and has been proven to increase hands per hour by as much as 30 per cent, improving revenues for casinos and reducing wait times both for players at the table and those waiting for a seat.
Additionally, the company offers RFID solutions specifically for roulette and Texas Hold’em, while also bringing its latest Electronic Chips Surveillance application to the market. The ECS reader fits in all gaming area points of entry and detects casino chips armed with RFID microchips. These features are designed to deter the unwanted removal of gaming chips by casino personnel.
To augment its Cage Reader, meanwhile, GPI has launched a new countertop reader that works in three dimensions, allowing the cage operator to accurately read chips whether they are in stacks, in chip racks or in a pile. It also features a Video Interface Unit that can record actual chip activity within a frame on CCTV security system.
"Traditionally, casino operators have been very cautious when accepting and implementing new technology," Gronau remarked. "However, in recent times we have found that if operators see a benefit from new technology - whether it is an increase in operating efficiency or customer service, or an increase in performance - they are usually very open to new concepts.
"When GPI first introduced RFID technology in its chips, the industry as a whole was slow in accepting the idea of reading and tracking casino chips. However, as RFID has shown to speed up many processes, whether it is at the table or in the cage, more and more casinos are choosing to integrate this technology into their casino operations."
For chip manufacturer Abbiati, the use of RFID is gathering momentum within gaming, suggesting that the technology has a bright future.
"Abbiati sees a continuously growing interest in RFID products," Giorgio said. "Even if RFID is still a new technology, we receive a number of requests from our clients, which shows that casino operators are starting to realise the value of RFID technology.
"We are sure that a lot of new products will be developed to satisfy the growth of interest in RFID technology to meet customer demand. The market is always open to new ideas, technologies and products, especially when they are created to help better manage time, security and productivity."
