Role of RFID in Casinos to be Featured
at 2008 IEEE RFID Conference in Las Vegas

WASHINGTON (14 April 2008) — Video poker machines aren't the only high-tech applications in casinos. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is becoming increasingly more widespread in the gaming industry.

"RFID in Casinos" will be examined at a luncheon panel — Thursday 17 April from noon to 1:30 — during the second IEEE International Conference on RFID (IEEE RFID 2008) at Las Vegas' Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino, 16-17 April.

"Through wireless communications, RFID can provide real-time visibility to casino management in tracking people and high-value products," said panel moderator Harry Pappas, president and CEO of the International RFID Business Association.

"If a million dollars worth of casino chips or coins are being moved across a facility, management wants to know its status at any given time, who's pushing the cage and where it is in the facility."

"RFID in Casinos" panelists include Jim Grubbs, security supervisor and training coordinator at Caesars Palace; Jeff Markman, president of Positek RFID; and John M. Kendall, president and CEO of CHIPCO International.

Kendall said his company, a leading maker of gaming chips, has been working with RFID for more than 15 years. It has integrated RFID into chips to help stop counterfeiting and theft and provide functional data. His presentation will describe how to evaluate RFID technology, illustrate radio frequency choices based on application, and provide guidance in developing a return-on-investment formula for such new technology investments.

"We are successfully working with our technology system partners on player tracking, eliminating counterfeit chips, stopping employee theft, providing data collection on functional automation and validating player and employee performance," Kendall said.

An enabling technology, RFID uses tags and readers to transmit a unique number. The tags store information on a microchip connected to a radio antenna, while the readers emit radio waves that exchange signals with the tags.

Casinos are continually faced with the challenge of securing their operations. Grubbs, who works for one most successful casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, said the gaming industry is still implementing RFID.

"Even though it has been used to some extent in tracking gaming chips, the technology is really just starting to be implemented in other security applications," Grubbs said. "To some extent, we're still learning how to apply and sell the value of RFID to senior management., "But I have seen how well RFID proximity badging has worked in the corporate sector at The Boeing Company, and if it works for their top-secret areas, I'd like to use this technology and enhance our facility security."

Markman's Positek RFID company is a leading supplier of RFID-enabled sorting and tracking software to the textile rental industry. He said RFID technology in uniforms is widely employed in casinos.

"Because of the considerable cost of uniforms, the casino and hospitality industry have long been tracking items with bar codes," Markman said. "RFID eliminates the labor associated with tracking and provides for more accurate and up-to-date tracking."

Pappas, whose International RFID Business Association is focused on developing workplace standards for RFID education, training and certification, sees the value of RFID in gaming.

"RFID technologies are an ever-growing part of the casino hospitality industry worldwide," Pappas said. "This includes RFID tags embedded in casino chips to ward off counterfeiting; tracking high-value mobile assets, including expensive wines and liquor; monitoring linens and robes in hotel rooms and employee uniforms in the laundry; as well as controlling access to critical areas of the casino operations — all under a closed-end loop environment."

IEEE RFID 2008 will address the technical and policy challenges of RFID technologies, examine job opportunities and feature 44 technical papers by leading academic and industrial researchers from around the world. The conference is co-located with RFID Journal Live! executive conference and exhibition (www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/).

For more information, see www.ieee-rfid.org/2008. You can register through partner RFID Journal Live! by going to www.rfidjournalevents.com/live/registration_options.php. Choose https://www.one-stop-registration.com/rfidlive/OSR.Index.

IEEE-USA and the IEEE TAB New Technology Directions Committee (www.ieee.org/web/volunteers/tab/tab_507.html) are financial co-sponsors for IEEE RFID 2008. IEEE-USA President Russ Lefevre chairs the committee.

IEEE RFID 2008 is funded in part by a U.S. Army Research Office grant of $5,000, which represents seven percent of the total estimated cost of the conference.

IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 215,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. IEEE-USA is part of the IEEE, the world's largest technical professional society with 375,000 members in 160 countries. See www.ieeeusa.org.

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Contacts:

Brian Fraser
Publicity Chair, IEEE RFID 2008
Phone: + 1 972 977 3517
Email: bfraserpr@verizon.net

Chris McManes
IEEE-USA Public Relations Manager
Phone: + 1 202 530 8356
E-mail: c.mcmanes@ieee.org