Vix Vizion has been chosen as an official solutions provider for the South Australian government's gambling register.

Under the new scheme, all licensed clubs, pubs and hotels that operate thirty or more gambling and gaming machines must deploy Facial Recognition (FR) software if one or more of those machines incorporates a banknote acceptor.

This is in order to maintain an official register of individuals using the machines.

Vix Vizion's Australian-owned Imagus Facial Recognition Software has been approved as an officially recognised solution, and placed on the government's website for licensed premises and systems integrators to contact.

South Australia's Consumer and Business Services evaluates each technology involved in the program, and approves those that meet its criteria.

To be approved for use in gaming venues, a facial recognition system must be capable of identifying or verifying the physical features of a person's face using a digital image captured from a fixed video source, the company states.

In general terms, the system must be able to communicate securely with the barring database held by CBS, and use this data to compare with the images of persons entering a gaming area.

An approved system must also be able to send a notification to the gambling provider when a suspected barred person is identified.

To uphold strict data retention and privacy regulations, it is also imperative that approved facial recognition technologies are able to prevent unauthorised access to use and disclosure of any data collected, Vix Vizion states.

Vix Vizion's Fraser Larcombe says, “Our Imagus software only holds the metadata on an individual, rather than actual data. In other words, it stores the data about the data, rather than the data itself.

"Therefore, an individual will only be recognised if they have already been placed on the barring database. This is a socially responsible use of technology, and one that we are very proud to support.

Larcombe says, “Vix Vizion works with a number of high-profile vendor partners around Australia and New Zealand, and has deployed facial recognition software in situations including licensed premises, airports, major shopping centres and corporate real estate.

"The company's software is used for a wide variety of security, safety and social wellbeing purposes.

He says, “Ours is a wholly Australian-owned solution, and we are working with local integrators and partners to put better technology into Australian businesses and licensed clubs.

"We are proud to support such a strong initiative from the South Australian Government, and to work with other like-minded people to support the local economy."