TrendCasinos turn to RFIDs for security

RFIDs are a big thing in retail, where they are used to track billions of items through the supply chain, and in security, where they are used, for example, to monitor the security of cargo containers on ships. Now there is a new market for the technology: Gambling. Las Vegas, Nevada-based (where else?) Gaming Partners International (GPI) says it has secured a major contract with Galaxy Resorts to supply more than 600,000 RFID gaming chips to be used in the new Rio and Grand Waldo casinos scheduled to open in Macau, China next year. Casinos increasingly are turning to RFIDs to protect against patrons trying to cash in counterfeit gaming chips and to stop cheaters at blackjack, poker, and other card tables. Gaming Partners has sold more than 5 million 125 KHz RFID gaming chips and installed approximately 300 reader devices at forty casinos around the world, including the Wynn Resort in Las Vegas. The Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas began experimenting with RFID chips at some blackjack tables earlier this year.

The Wynn uses RFID in gaming chips worth $25 or more, but Gaming Partners said they insert RFID technology into playing chips worth as little as 50 cents. Many of the readers are placed in the cages where gaming chips are sold and redeemed by players. Gaming Partners also builds readers into Roulette tables and tote boxes for gambling chips.

-read more at GPI Web site