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French casino to test biometric smart card

The roll-out began at group headquarters in Paris where the patented fingerprint card is used by employees to access secure areas.

The group has targeted two casinos on the French Riviera where the card will be deployed in the first quarter of 2017. Employees at the group’s first open-air casino, Casino La Ciotat, currently under construction in the seaside town’s marina, and employees at an existing casino in Antibes, Casino Juan Les Pins, will be the first to use the cards as identity badges that will grant them access to the properties and secure areas within them.

Security through electronic access control will be the immediate focus for the group, and if successful this move will pave the way towards a ‘closed loop’ system with all regular guests and 4,500 employees using their MeReal Biometrics cards to perform a wide range of payment applications and access, both physical and logical, applications.

“The fingerprint sensor brings trust and security to the Groupe Partouche experience, a key component to our core values. The identity of our employees is paramount and top customer service is key to our success. Once tested and deployed, we hope to add more services to the MeReal Biometrics card in order to make our hotel and casino VIPs’ experiences with us as safe and carefree as possible,” said Fabrice Paire, chairman of the Board, Group Partouche.

The MeReal Biometrics patented ‘computer on a card’ removes the hassles of typing account numbers and passwords without compromising security. By combining a fingerprint sensor, an acoustic signature, and a rechargeable battery on a traditional wallet-sized card, MeReal Biometrics has created the most dynamic and safe powered card that can be used for payments and access across all industries with unlimited applications.

“If, with one of our cards, a guest in the future can book and pay for a hotel room on the group’s app or reservations hotline, then on arrival they by-pass the hotel’s check-in desk and go directly to their room entering with their smart card, then use stored value on their card to pay for services throughout the property, as well as use it to access secure areas like the gaming rooms, pool, gymnasium, spa, even their rental cars, then we will have helped Groupe Partouche deliver a new level of customer service not known in the tourism industry,” said Kate Davies, head of marketing, MeReal Biometrics.

With such a range of technology on-board, the MeReal Biometrics cards are not limited to one particular channel of communication. After the cardholder places a finger on the sensor, the card confirms a match, and only then can it perform contact, contactless, and audio applications for a short time. The cards can communicate over any of the world’s 8.3 billion telephone lines, from smartphones through to fixed lines. It’s compatible with IVR systems on customer service hotlines, with smartphone apps, online plug-ins, existing point-of-sale readers, door readers, car readers, USB readers, and more.