Tech Trends in the Casino ?

8

October

2020

5/5 (3)

Recent technologies and innovations are making their impact on a lot of industries, including the gambling industry. Major improvements and advancements can be seen at a customer’s gaming experience at casinos and their games, e.g. poker, blackjack, or roulette. Furthermore, technologies are redefining the security of casinos and increasing safety for the players. Three major technology trends can be identified in the gambling industry: virtual reality, facial recognition and smart camera safety systems, and cryptocurrencies.

Virtual reality (VR) is used for online casinos where you are able to play games, e.g. slot machines or poker with wearable capabilities. A VR headset, for instance, creates an authentic gambling experience for players and allows them to connect with other members of the online casino and have a completely immersive gambling experience. You basically only need the appropriate equipment and hardware to access the games and you are ready to play. The platform from PokerStars VR is already providing the first version of this VR gambling experience. There you can play the Texas Hold’em version of poker in a virtual environment with realistic chip and card movements. Moreover, you are able to see other players as individualized avatars with interactive accessories. An illustration of this VR poker environment is shown below.

Screenshot 2020-10-08 at 16.19.29  Screenshot 2020-10-08 at 16.30.00 Pokerstars VR

To increase safety and security, Chinese casinos in Macau are implementing facial recognition and artificial intelligence to monitor the players and gamblers. Security cameras scan the faces of players in the casino, people arriving, and also license plates of arriving cars. In that way, the software is able to detect banned or addicted gamblers or even criminals. Furthermore, the smart system can also identify known high rollers or VIPs who are likely to spend more money in the casino as they are putting down high-risk bets. This makes it easier for the casino to immediately assign staff to personalize the special VIP treatment for them and make sure that they stay around longer.

Screenshot 2020-10-08 at 16.37.41 fruitmachine-721534 Face Recognition

Cryptocurrencies, e.g. the well-known types of Bitcoin or Ethereum, and its underlying technology blockchain are gaining popularity in the gambling industry. For players, it is convenient and beneficial to use them as a payment method in the online casinos as they might not feel comfortable about sharing details about their banking details online. The disintermediary characteristic of blockchain allows the players to avoid connecting their bank account to their casino account. Also, the blockchain takes a record of all transactions made in the chain and is protected in its decentralized infrastructure. Therefore, the risk of fraud is very low. However, there is still some time needed until all online casinos accept payments in cryptocurrencies.

Screenshot 2020-10-08 at 19.17.21 Bitcoin as a Payment Method

It will be interesting to see which other technologies will affect the gambling industry overall. I am personally looking forward to trying out online VR poker; of course without any monetary stakes in the game.

 

 

References:

Blackjackonlineunitedkingdom.com. 2020. Bitcoin Casino | Become A Crypto King | Bitcoin Gambling Guide Here. [online] Available at: <https://www.blackjackonlineunitedkingdom.com/bitcoin-casino.html> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

Business Matters. 2020. Top 5 Mobile Gaming Tech Innovations. [online] Available at: <https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/top-5-mobile-gaming-tech-innovations/> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

Greece Gambling Conference. 2020. Top Successful Global Trends In Online Gambling 2020 | Greece Gambling Conference. [online] Available at: <https://greece.affiliate.events/news/2020-s-top-innovations-and-trends-in-global-online-gambling-100687> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

Mobygeek.com. 2020. [online] Available at: <https://mobygeek.com/features/chinese-casinos-deploy-facial-recognition-and-ai-to-monitor-customers-6448> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

The European Business Review. 2020. Gambling Innovations In 2019 – The European Business Review. [online] Available at: <https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/gambling-innovations-in-2019/> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

Pokerstars. 2020. Pokerstars VR On Steam. [online] Store.steampowered.com. Available at: <https://store.steampowered.com/app/886250/PokerStars_VR/> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

Wall-Street.com. 2020. Top 3 Technologies That Will Innovate Online Gambling In 2019 – Wall-Street.Com. [online] Available at: <https://wall-street.com/top-3-technologies-that-will-innovate-online-gambling-in-2019/> [Accessed 8 October 2020].

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Augmented Reality Glasses in the Sports Industry

30

September

2020

5/5 (2)

Augmented reality is a direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment where software interacts with sensory and digital projectors to attach digital objects to the environment. The technology has already penetrated various industries and markets including healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. Contrarily, in sports augmented reality it is still in the early phase and did not have a major impact on the industry yet. In general, augmented reality in sports has the possibility to provide valuable insights for professional or non-professional players to improve their playing skills with real-time data. Especially glasses have the potential to be widespread applications of augmented reality. In the next two sections, I will give an overview of two examples of augmented reality glasses in the sports industry: The “Ghost Pacer” glasses for running and the Nike AR glasses for golfing.

GhostPacer_1-1280x720 Screenshot 2020-09-30 at 16.20.23    Ghost Pacer Avatar

Screenshot 2020-09-30 at 16.09.33    Ghost Pacer Technology

The “Ghost Pacer” augmented reality glasses project a live holographic running opponent into your field of view that paces you and pushes you to perform at your best. Research has proven that having a running partner leads to more effective and higher-quality training. Therefore, this virtual partner that is available anywhere at any time can have a positive impact on the training. The company provides a companion application where you can set the avatar at a certain pace and find routes for a run. Moreover, the app allows you to race against a friend at different times as the avatar is able to mimics his pace on the route. The AR glasses contain a small supercomputer, an ultra-bright led, and a high-resolution AR display which can also connect to an Apple Watch.

nike-heads-up-display-770x508    Nike AR Glasses

Nike has recently patented augmented reality glasses that have integrated a display that golf players can wear on the golf course. This display, when linked up to a connected Golf ball, is able to provide real-world statistics and data on the ball’s motion through a build-in processor. The data specifically includes the distance traveled, the trajectory, spin rate, and speed. In general, the AR glasses have an electronic screen with a transparent display area that can dynamically display images within the golf player’s field of view. The integrated technology is able to present personalized information and recommendations that let the golfer adjust strategy and approach to better suit their own playing strengths and weaknesses.

I personally would definitely like to try both versions of augmented reality glasses as I am a big sports enthusiast. For running, the ghost pacer would give me some more motivation on bad days where I am not in the mood to do sports. Although, it must feel really special to have an avatar running next to you. For golf, it would be interesting to see how they work in practice, as I never had any real-time data available after making a golf shot. What is your opinion? Do you see a general benefit in using augmented reality glasses during running, golf, or other kinds of sports sessions?

 

References:

Android Headlines. 2020. Nike Patents Wearable AR System To Help Golfers Improve. [online] Available at: <https://www.androidheadlines.com/2017/12/nike-patents-wearable-ar-system-help-golfers-improve.html> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Ghostpacer.com. 2020. The Ghost Pacer. [online] Available at: <https://ghostpacer.com> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Indiegogo. 2020. Ghost Pacer: Your Holographic Workout Partner. [online] Available at: <https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ghost-pacer-your-holographic-workout-partner#/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Joshi, N., 2020. Revolutionizing Sports With Augmented Reality. [online] Forbes. Available at: <https://www.forbes.com/sites/cognitiveworld/2019/10/26/revolutionizing-sports-with-augmented-reality/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

LetsGoDigital. 2020. Nike Heads Up Display With Tracking System For Golf Ball | Letsgodigital. [online] Available at: <https://en.letsgodigital.org/smart-wearables/nike-heads-up-display/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

Mallis, A., Nelson, J., Richards, D. and Christian, R., 2020. Channelnews : Nike Patents Augmented Reality Glasses For Golf. [online] Channelnews.com.au. Available at: <https://www.channelnews.com.au/nike-patents-augmented-reality-sunnies-for-golf/> [Accessed 30 September 2020].

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Robotic Process Automation: A Threat or Benefit for Employees?

13

September

2020

5/5 (2)

In an increasingly fast and international business environment, companies need to do business in a time and cost-effective manner. Robotic Process Automation (RPA), also referred to as smart or intelligent automation, is one of the development trends in technology that could help businesses thrive, to reduce their costs, and help them achieve their planned figures. It enables the optimization of individual corporate divisions as it emerges as a software-based solution to automate rules-based business processes. These involve routine tasks structured data and deterministic outcomes. In this way, does RPA aim to replace employees by automation, or is it offering a benefit for their work?

When you hear the word Robotic Process Automation, you might imagine robots like C-3PO or R2-D2 moving around an office floor. As a matter of fact, this is not the case. RPA is a software technology using Bots or Artificial Intelligence. It mostly performs administrative tasks carried out on back-office business processes where the customer is not directly involved. For instance, analyzing and transferring data from an email or Excel spreadsheet to other systems, e.g. an SAP ERP system. Employees are able to let the Bot do their repetitive tasks for them and thus can focus more on value-adding activities. This saves time for the employee and constitutes a basis for a more effective work-manner.

R2d2  20200625_112435_final

In detail, an RPA tool operates by mapping a process in the RPA tool language for the software robot to follow, with runtime allocated to execute the script by a control dashboard. A big advantage for the developer or employee hoping to automate the task is that no in-depth programming skills are required. Popular RPA tools, for example, UiPath, BluePrism, or Softomotive WinAutomation, are relatively easy to use and only require a bit of training. The reason behind this is that RPA only addresses the graphical user interface of information systems and does not have to address the underlying system at all.

According to research, most businesses adopting RPA expect that automation would not result in layoffs and employees being replaced. Instead, workers are redeployed to do more interesting work. Employees even seem to achieve increasing job satisfaction, instead of detriment and view the software robot as their teammate. Further research indicates that the benefits of RPA include reduced cost, improved quality, increased speed, and accuracy.

RPA is undoubtedly a very useful tool that will enable businesses to carry certain repetitive tasks in a more efficient way than a human could. But this does not mean that software bots are replacing workers overall. Humans are clearly at an advantage when it comes to creating innovation and working on value-adding activities. If this situation stays the same depends on how future advances in the RPA technology will look like.

What is your opinion? Do you see a benefit in using RPA in your future work life?

 

 

 

References:

Aguirre, S., & Rodriguez, A. (2017). Automation of a Business Process Using Robotic Process Automation (RPA): A Case Study. Communications in Computer and Information Science Applied Computer Sciences in Engineering, 65-71. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-66963-2_7

Bichler, M. (2020). Robotic Process Automation. Controlling, 32(1), 69-71. doi:10.15358/0935-0381-2020-1-69

Digital Labor and Robotic Process Automation. (2020). Retrieved September 13, 2020, from https://home.kpmg/at/de/home/services/advisory/management-consulting/it-advisory/robotic-process-automation.html

Kommera, V. (2019). Robotic Process Automation. American Journal of Intelligent Systems, 9(2), 49-53. doi:10.5923/j.ajis.20190902.01

Lacity, M. (2015). What Knowledge Workers Stand to Gain from Automation. Harvard Business Review

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