The deployment of a “smart table” product – combining the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and cameras gathering data for analysis via artificial intelligence (AI) – can provide more “flexibility” to casino operators and “enhance the efficiency” of the gaming operation, says Asuka Kurahashi (pictured), president of Angel Macau Ltd, in an interview with GGRAsia.
Angel Group is a familiar name for its playing cards and card shoes in the casino-equipment supply market. The company offers a modular approach to its smart table offer, depending on a casino firm’s operational need and budget, as well as the relevant gaming regulator’s protocols.
Ms Kurahashi said Angel’s smart table does not disrupt the normal operating process of a live table game nor slow its pace.
“By adopting the RFID-smart table, we can enhance the efficiency of the [gaming] operation, and we don’t want to change the dealers’ SOP [standard operation procedure] or even table layout. While the dealer is dealing the game the normal way, our system is collecting all the data,” the Angel Macau president remarked.
The use of AI helps operators to accommodate operational changes such as fresh side-bet options in an efficient manner, she added.
The AI-RFID hybrid approach means Angel can offer operators “flexibility” in terms of table layout design. “When they need to change it, they just need to adjust the software and the cameras [for AI capture function] to adapt to the new layout,” said Ms Kurahashi.
Having two sets of cameras means they can “compensate” and “eliminate blind spots” – when working in tandem – for any viewpoint angle on the table that cannot be easily monitored by a single camera, noted the executive.
The Macau authorities have been encouraging use of smart tables as a way for the city’s industry to manage more effectively, casino operations.
Angel’s smart table – which has been refined over a period of 10 years – has been installed at one particular property of a Macau casino concessionaire since 2019, Ms Kurahashi told GGRAsia. Angel declines to name the property, but says its smart table product is likely to see “complete rollout… over the next few quarters”, across multiple properties of the concessionaire in question.
The technology supplier’s smart table product has also been deployed in casino operations in Singapore and Australia, according Ms Kurahashi. The product is due to become operational soon in the Philippines, though – as feasible via Angel’s modular approach – the industry’s request in that market has so far been for AI data functions, rather than RFID ones.
The company’s comprehensive package is ‘Angel Eye Complete’ (pictured below in marketing materials). It comes with a chip tray called ‘Angel Smart Float’. The tray is equipped with a reader that can read and track RFID-tagged gaming chips stored in it.