Corsight AI and AusComply Help Identify Gambling Self-Excluders with Facial Recognition at Sydney's famed ArtHouse Hotel and Gregory Hills Hotel

With an industry-led self-exclusion register focused on harm minimization slated to come online soon, gaming facilities are facing increased pressure from regulators to accurately, quickly and discreetly identify banned, underage, and self-excluded patrons from their operations. As security teams are currently tasked with remembering and monitoring thousands of faces at any given time, such an undertaking becomes increasingly daunting, if not impossible.

However, once both Sydney-area venues quickly and successfully implemented AusComply’s integrations of Corsight’s technology, each enjoyed near-immediate results with improvements in bottlenecks at entrances, reductions in daily operations costs, and more accurate and expedient resolutions in verifying and apprehending banned or self-excluded individuals in their venues without disrupting other guests.

Strategic partner and compliance software provider AusComply championed Corsight’s technology for both hotels’ operations. “After reviewing many facial recognition systems from several countries over the years, I’ve chosen to integrate Corsight’s facial recognition. It’s a robust system that can cope with a vast number of venue challenges, including detection from cameras located high and at challenging angles and in conditions of almost total darkness and smoke,” said Jason Thomas, Managing Director and Founder, AusComply. “Speed and accuracy are key. We’ve added value and 24-hour coverage, seven days a week, passive screening of patrons by easily connecting with the ArtHouse’s existing infrastructure in their beautiful, 187-year-old building. Since Corsight is largely camera-agnostic, we were able to implement the software and be up and running within a few two-and-a-half hours using existing cameras, angles, and heights.”

“As soon as I learned about AusComply’s incident management system having integrated Corsight’s facial recognition software, I pushed very hard to get it into our daily operations,” said Brian Sarkis, general manager of the ArtHouse Hotel, Sydney. “We wanted to be leaders in incorporating state-of-the-art technology to offer our patrons a better experience in our venue facility while offering them an increased sense of safety, and we are thrilled at how well this has been working. I don’t think you can put a dollar value on what it’s brought to the business in terms of efficiency and cost savings. Those who’ve placed themselves on self-exclusion lists can feel safe that the ArtHouse staff will do the right thing, and everyone will have a better experience getting through the front door on a Saturday night.”

The ArtHouse Hotel has also replaced its expensive ID scanners with AusComply’s Patron Check-in Consensual Facial Recognition to help shorten the queues for entering the hotel. Leveraging Corsight’s ability to manage many faces this measure has increased efficiency and is making the customer journey experience more pleasurable, as returning guests can accelerate through a line-up and reach their desired seats or areas faster.

Self-excluders are gamblers who have prohibited themselves from using select gambling venues, casinos, or websites to help manage their addiction by proactively entering their pictures into a database. They can enter a gaming facility but cannot go into a room in which gambling is underway. Australians will soon be able to ban themselves from all online gambling companies in every state and territory.

“I’ve been in the industry over 20 years and saw the benefits of having such a system – especially for the self-exclusion piece. It’s not easy to remember self-excluders from a picture on a piece of paper, so we jumped at the opportunity to lead in this effort,” said John Payne, general manager of the Gregory Hills Hotel, Royal Hotel Group. “Within the first week of uploading images to our database, the AusComply software alerted us to a banned patron due to an unfortunate event in another location. My first response was to ring Jason Thomas (AusComply), because the Corsight software is brilliant. It’s so quick – within thirty seconds, we were able to act quickly and approach customers in a respectful way without any escalation in the situation.”

Furthermore, Mr. Payne stated, “I like the fact that, especially with the self-excluders, the system helps protect the people who need assistance to abate a bad habit. The self-exclusion benefits of the system have absolutely exceeded expectations in helping management help others address their problems. A lot of venues will need this technology in the next 12-18 months.”

“With changes to a gamer’s appearance, such as shaving, wearing hats or glasses, it becomes even more challenging for security personnel to monitor self-excluders effectively and accurately. Corsight’s solution, however, is a game-changer,” added Sean Borg, Managing Director – Oceania for Corsight AI. “Additionally, since anyone who is not watch listed is instantly blurred from the camera feeds and all digital residue of their face is instantly cleared from the system for good, we are able to protect people’s privacy while complying with GDPR laws and Australia’s new model law.”

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Australians lost approximately $25 billion to legal forms of gambling in 2018-2019 – among the largest losses in the world. Approximately seven million Australians gamble regularly, while approximately one percent – or 193,000 – could be considered problem gamblers.