German Casinos and Poker Rooms Use AI Spectrum Analyzers to Catch Cheaters

On January 24, yet another device was unveiled to help casinos and poker rooms to catch cheaters and players who are working in teams. Long gone are the days of hand signals, marked cards, special eyeglasses, or cards hidden inside the sleeve. German manufacturers Rohde & Schwarz began testing a new generation of spectrum analyzers powered by custom Artificial Intelligence (AI) software designed to monitor internal communications within casinos or other gaming establishments in accordance with German gambling laws.

After successful testing in Taiwan using a variation of the software to catch applicants cheating on Government exams with mobile phones, the company is beginning testing at a selected group of German casinos and poker rooms. The handheld devices were originally designed to help mobile companies test for signal strength. The manucturer stated that such a devicee will not operate with online casino in Germany.

The new variation of the device is attached to the belts of undercover casino security and is connected to earphones. The devices look for signals from mobile phones and pagers; relay the signal to a main processer where the signal is analyzed for algorhythms and predicts which signals are related to cheating. Similar software has been using by countries where internet gambling is not legal to monitor messenger traffic.

Spectrum analyzers cannot decisively recognize specific mobile users but they can locate the general area which then is examined through a casino surveillance camera. Such information is useful in combination with other indication of cheating. Preliminary tests indicate that “efficacy” of the analyzers was surprisingly high.