Claim: facial recognition at casino

DUNEDIN Casino may have joined a growing list of New Zealand businesses using facial recognition CCTV technology.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a local man told the Otago Daily Times he visited the casino with his wife last year for dinner and they accidentally left without paying.

About three months later, he visited the casino again.

Within a few seconds of walking in the door, he claimed he was approached by a staff member who said he had been identified by the casino’s automatic facial recogni tion system as someone who had left without paying.

‘‘They just pounced on me.’’

The man claimed his failure to pay for the meal had been a matter of miscommunication between him and his wife, and casino staff were satisfied when he immediately paid the difference.

Casino management have repeatedly refused to confirm or deny whether the technology was in use — a spokesman said yesterday they had ‘‘no comment to make.’’

The claims come after the ODT revealed last week facial recognition was used at some Foodstuffs supermarkets in the North Island, along with a single Mitre 10 store in Auckland. Foodstuffs owns New World, Pak’n Save and Four Square supermarkets.

Facial recognition CCTV technology is commonly used by retailers overseas to automatically identify known shoplifters. It is also used by police in England and local governments in China to track down suspects in public places.

SkyCity confirmed last week it would soon begin a trial of facial recognition software at its Auckland casino, in a bid to automatically identify problem gamblers who had voluntarily submitted photos to a register.