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The following are recent articles featuring SenSysNet and our revolutionary technology.

Global Gaming Business Interview - August 2005
John Kendall speaks with Global Gaming Business magazine about RFID in gaming.
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"Odds in house's favor for gaming efficiencies"- March 2005
Article from RFID Operations magazine discussing RFID in gaming.
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Global Gaming Business Interview
August 2005

Q&A with John Kendall

Q: You have been described as the "father of RFID in gaming". How long have
you been involved with this technology?

A: I have been in the gaming business supplying chips to casinos for 20 years. In 1989 Mickey Roemer (now with Bally systems, but at the time with EDT) asked me if we could electronically trace gaming chips in a casino. I told him yes, using radio frequency technology. Mickey told me the client was Harrah's Casinos. I began looking into this technology at that time based on his reqest and our meeting with Harrah's.

Q:  Did anything ever come from that effort?

A: Nothing was implemented, but this 1989 event was the trigger for RFID in this industry. Because it involved the chips, CHIPCO kind of lead this evaluation on this technology for a few of the leading casinos groups. I reported back to them on almost an annual basis on the status of this technology as it applied to applications in gaming.

Q: Who were the casinos you met with?

A: Over the years many different casinos, but the large operators included Harrah's, Caesars, Trump Casinos, Circus, Circus, Mirage and MGM.

Q:  These are very large operators, why didn't any of them install systems
in these early years?

A:  The technology was not right for gaming applications.

Q:  Why?

A:  The early RFID technology was based on a 125 KHz frequency. This
frequency is not suitable for the identified gaming applications.

Q:  What are those gaming applications?

A:  It depends some on where you operate your casino which applications are the most important to you.  In the US these operators want RFID so they can track the players bet. "Player tracking" is the number one application here. But in Asia, "employee theft" of chips and stopping "counterfeit chips" are the primary reasons operators are looking at RFID technolgy today. These are the same 2 primary reasons for South American casinos, and most European operators today. In the final analysis every operator will use RFID for all
cost-effective applications, it is just that some are motivated by specific challenges they need to address today.




Q:  Are there other applications beyond player tracking, stopping
counterfeit chips and the theft of chips?

A:  Yes, there are lots of applications beyond these three. Automation at certain table games, the roulette chipper machines will all be upgraded from color sensors and vision systems to RFID technology in my opinion. The operators want to be able to use these chipper machines to sort both non-value wheelchecks and value chips. At the same time they want to validate them as real chips or provide an alert if they are counterfeits. Validating chips at the cashier station is what the new Wynn's casino in Las Vegas is doing with RFID today.

Q:  Do they use your chips?

 A:  No. They placed their order with the French company GPI.

Q:  Why didn't Steve Wynn pick your system?

A: Our system was not available at the time.

Q:  Will Steve Wynn expand this new system and his new chips to other applications?

A:  It will be very difficult as his chips and readers are all the old 125 KHz technology. You will never be able to read across a staff door (1 meter wide) to prevent employee theft with 125 KHz chips. The processing speed on this frequency (125 KHz) is very slow so real time player tracking will not be satisfactory.  Reading stacks of chips will not work because of signal collision issues (you need both anti-collision and cloaking capability on the silicon for this gaming application, and 125 KHz chips do not offer cloaking capability). But, if all Steve Wynn want's to do is "validate chips" (against counterfeits) at the cashier station, this GPI system should work, you just won't be able to expand to other applications and be satisfied with its performance.

Q:  What radio frequency does your system use?

A:  Our ICS system uses 13.56 MHz.

Q:  Does anyone else use 13.56 MHz in their chips?

A:  Yes, Magellan Technology from Sydney, Australia are using chips at this frequency. Progressive Gaming in Las Vegas uses 13.56 MHz chips at their test installation at the Hard Rock Casino. I understand that GPI is changing from 125 KHz chips to 13.56 MHz as quickly as they can.

Q:  Why would GPI change to 13.56 MHz if they are selling their 125 KHz
product?

A:  They will need to change to meet the requirements of the industry. RFID is a "transitional technology" for table games. This new technology will provide the table games manager, and the casino operator with an entirely new set of tools to run their table game operation. Not only will you be able to track player's bets both passively and covertly, but you will stop employee theft of chips, arrest counterfeit chip threats, capture dealer performance statistics, identify player activity outside certain parameters that might alert a pit boss or casino manager that the dealer has miss paid
a player, or you might be challenged by a team player threat. A fully implemented ICS system operating in real time can protect the house advantage and insure that the games are being plaýed fairly.

Q: Those sound like huge benefits. Are there other benefits?

A:  Yes.  Opening and closing tables, and the required reconcilliation reports can become much more automated. Audit and control procedures at the cashier, cage and vault areas gets vastly improved. Chip trays, money carts, employee badges, tracking employee uniforms and slot machine access keys will all use RFID technology within the next 5 years in my opinion.

Q:  What is the cost of a chip with RFID?

A:  If you use 125 KHz inlays it is a few dollars each. With 13.56 MHz inlays they should retail for under $2.00 dollars in small quantities, and get down towards $1.60 USD in larger quantities.

Q:  What is the cost for the tables with the readers?

A:  CHIPCO is in the chip business not the furniture business. We offer "inserts" that will lay into existing tables. These inserts will have all the ICS components inside. We call our system a "sensor-based" system because our sensors operate at the edge of the network. We have sensors at the tables, the doors, the vault, the cashier stations, in uniforms, on carts, in badges etc., all these sensors capture information and channel it back to our Eclipse Server. Our Eclipse server then passes the relevant information to the middleware system running the operators Casino Management Software (CMS). Our server is redundant and secure, we limit our I/O (inputs/outputs) so we do not drag down the operating performance of the mainframe CMS hardware. Our ICS system can be purchased or leased, but we sell the chips outright. The inserts with these components will cost several thousand dollars to buy, but lease for less than a thousand per month under a 3 year lease plan.

If you have any questions about this article or any of our RFID systems please don't hesitate to contact us, please follow this link for contact information.

"Odds in house's favor for gaming efficiencies"
March 2005

RFID in gaming from RFID Operations (http://www.rfidoperations.com/ )

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