Wells Fargo to Put a Bold Face on Its New ATMs in Casinos

Looking for an easier way to get cash into the hands of gamblers, Wells Fargo & Co. on Tuesday said it plans to replace its traditional ATMs at casinos throughout the West with full-service automated money machines that can digitally recognize customers on sight.

The San Francisco-based bank plans to unveil its first high-tech “financial services vending machines” this fall at four locations in Reno and Las Vegas, said Frank Petro, Wells Fargo executive vice president for strategic development. Exact locations have yet to be determined.

The bank currently operates about 200 casino-based automated teller machines, including electronic dispensers at gaming establishments such as Harrah’s and Sam’s Town in Las Vegas. Over the next two years, Petro said, all will be replaced with the new machines, which allow cash withdrawal, check cashing, credit card and point-of-sale cash advances, and even event ticket sales.

Bank executives declined to reveal the cost of the changeover.

Users do not have to be Wells Fargo account holders, but bank spokeswoman Marilyn Taylor said each transaction would most likely be assessed a fee by the bank or the casino and possibly both.

While some would question the wisdom of making money more readily available to gamblers, Petro said Wells Fargo is not out to take advantage of a sometimes rash and desperate group.

“This is not changing any of the rules of how money is distributed to these people today,” he said. “This is not going to make money available to them that has not been available in the past. It’s making the whole access to money more convenient.”

The new machines will also use a controversial technology that records and stores, via computer, the facial structure of each customer, thereby eliminating the need to use a personal identification number. The process will be used for check cashing only; other transactions will operate as they do on traditional ATMs.

Casino visitors looking to cash a check at one of the machines will be required to type in their Social Security number and answer a few questions over an on-site phone to verify their identity. The machine will then make a digital recording of their face and store it in a central databank. On subsequent visits, registered users need only type their Social Security number and wait for the machine to verify their facial features to cash checks.

The machine can take into consideration minor alterations of facial structure such as plastic surgery, bloating and facial hair, Wells Fargo said.

But many, including privacy rights groups, fear use of facial recognition technology could undermine the security of users if, for example, the information is somehow hacked and downloaded for illegal purposes. The state Assembly is even considering a first-of-its-kind bill sponsored by Assemblyman Kevin Murray (D-Los Angeles) to outlaw trafficking in so-called biometric information, which, along with facial imaging, includes electronic fingerprinting and eye mapping.

Beth Givens, director of Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, a nonprofit advocacy group in San Diego, worries that biometric information, especially facial recognition records, could ultimately be used for surveillance and spying.

“All privacy advocates are concerned about secondary use of information without consent of the subject,” Givens said. “Will there be any safeguards put in place to prevent the secondary use of that data?”

Petro said there will. The machines are part of a joint venture between the bank and Fort Worth-based Mr. Payroll Corp., which for the past 18 months has operated 41 automated check-cashing machines employing the same technology. Petro said an agreement governing the venture prohibits the bank, Mr. Payroll and the venture’s operating entity, Inno-Visions Inc., from selling or sharing the information with other parties.

The machines, which use facial recognition technology created by Wellesley, Mass.-based Miros Inc., caught the eye of Wells executives at a trade show, and the companies began discussing the venture eight months ago, Petro said.

The bank currently operates 11 of the check-cashing machines at branches in Orange County and Northern California.

In New York Stock Exchange trading Tuesday, Cash America shares jumped $1.88 to close at $18.50 after hitting a 52-week high of $19.50. Wells shares fell $2 to close at $377.50 on the NYSE.