Las Vegas regulator the Nevada Gaming Control Board has issued a directive encouraging casinos to ban the use of Google Glass, the search engine giant’s new eyeglass-mounted computer.
The NCB, in encouraging their licensees to ban patrons from wearing Google Glass on the gaming floor or while playing any gambling game, admitted their use was not specifically illegal, but argued that “potential for inappropriate and/or illegal use” in a casino existed.
The Control Board cited the potential for the hands-free image capturing devices to easily share card information in poker and other table games with other parties, also stating that their use could undermine the public’s confidence that gaming in the Silver State is being conducted fairly “and free of criminal and corruptive elements.”
Similar concerns were expressed by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement last week, which issued a directive ordering Atlantic City’s 12 casinos to ban casino players from using the device, divisional director David Rebuck suggesting they could be used to broadcast a poker hand to a another party with a view to collusion. Even if they were not being used for cheating, Rebuck argued their use could still shake other punters’ confidence in the integrity of gaming and how it was being conducted in the Garden State.
Casino giant Caesars had already directed security in their Vegas, Cincinnati and Cleveland properties to request customers to remove the devices before they sat down to gamble at the tables, with MGM also implementing a similar policy same in its Las Vegas venues, according to AP. Pennsylvania also plans to advise its 11 licensees that a regulation which prohibits casino gamblers from using electronic devices at gaming tables also includes Google Glass, added the news agency.
Users can activate the internet and other Google Glass functions using natural language voice commands.
The device is currently in R&D stage, with less than 20,000 versions of the Google Glass Explorer Edition estimated to be in circulation in the US. Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt told the BBC’s World At One radio programme in April that a consumer version of the product was probably about 12 months away.
Article written by Peter Holmes
Image by Azugaldia, used under Creative Commons licence
