Robot Dealers a Very Real Possibility

We live in a world where for a long time people have worried about losing their jobs to automated machines. One job where you might have been forgiven for being a little complacent is casino table dealing.

The guys and girls out there helping to run the live poker scene do a tough job under a lot of pressure. Mistakes can quickly lead to dismissal, or at the very least they can lose a dealer the opportunity to deal the high profile games where the big tips come in.

Casinos and card rooms go to great expense to recruit and train up table dealers to a high level. With customers risking their hard earned cash, mistakes are not tolerated.

I always cringe when I recall this clip of Estelle Denis' hand getting mucked:

That dealer definitely got fired.

Times Are Changing

Businesses all over the globe are always on the look out to cut costs and improve quality. In the casino world, if an alternative could be found to human table dealers, big savings could be made. Not only that but mistakes could be all but eliminated as well.

But that's just not possible. Or is it?

Allow me to introduce Min.

Min is going to attempt to revolutionise the way table games are dealt in casinos and card rooms around the world. She is a brunette of average height and currently only deals Baccarat, but will soon be capable of running a much wider range of games.

So what's different about her?

Well, as I'm sure you've already guessed, Min is a robot!

What Is All the Fuss About?

Min was unveiled to the world last month in Macau, China, by Hong Kong based gaming manufacturer Paradise Entertainment. Although at the time of writing she can't do anything but deal cards, much was made about the plans to include facial recognition and the ability to speak in several languages.

This is really a huge step forward in gaming technology, although I must admit I'm sceptical about how much it can possibly improve the actual gaming experience.

The tables of gambling Meccas, Las Vegas and Macau are filled with players from all over the globe. With different cultures in play the expectations of service can vary wildly. It's not easy to keep everybody happy.

Take, for example, Asian gamblers who are known to thrive in noisy atmospheres. The banter they build up with the dealer is incredibly important to them. Engaging with the dealer and crowd is a major part of the experience and, more importantly for the casinos, they will gamble more money when they are having a lot of fun.

What Could this Mean for Poker?

After pondering on this for a while I realised that the poker world could benefit a lot from mistake free robot dealers. Thinking about some of the problems the game has online and live reminded me that confidence in the integrity of the game is of paramount importance.

Some of you may have seen these new 'live dealer' Blackjack tables online. Everything is the same as a normal online casino in terms of playing the game, but you have a live stream of a human dealer dealing the cards. What is to stop poker rooms from setting up a similar system with an updated version of Min?

This takes care of the problem of people not trusting the random number generator system used by online casinos and poker rooms. We could see more players dipping their toes into the game of poker by taking part in some kind of live/online hybrid game, possibly with everybody showing their webcam stream to make it as much as a live play experience as possible.

As for the live poker scene, improvements to robot dealers could lead to an increase in the usual number of hands dealt per hour. This would be more than welcomed by those online players who play the occasional live tournament and feel bored to tears after not seeing a playable hand for two hours.

The final point might give our more frugal readers something to cheer about.

How many of you out there deliberately avoid playing in casinos and card rooms because of the pressure to tip? Possibly you don't want to give the usual chip or two from the big pot you just won because you're not a big winner overall.

Well, robot dealers don't receive tips do they? And with faster games to boot, it could be a positive change for poker players in the future.

What Happens Next?

Paradise chairman Jay Chun said plans were in place to debut Min in the USA rather than in the Asian market. Pressumably this was connected to labour costs being many levels higher in North America. He also declined to tell the media how much the costs would be for a potential customer.

Interesting to note was that some jurisdictions in the USA ban gambling games which are dealt by human dealers, but allow electrical machine style gaming. Now technology is catching up to the point of being able to create a loophole for these laws, maybe there will be some new discussion from US lawmakers.

Another Hong Kong based company, Hanson Robotics,was reported to have already created and sold a similar product, but details were sketchy. The Chief Marketing Officer refusing to say who purchased the robot. This product though, is supposed to already be interactive and capable of different facial expressions.

I think it's an interesting idea which was always going to happen at some point. My thoughts are that we are still many years from a fully functioning 'android' style poker dealer. I mean a dealer which can handle chips and control the game accurately. But on the whole, when we get there, there are some positives to look forward to.

As for games like Blackjack, I think that things could get up and running much faster, but only time will tell. I await with interest.