Oosto provides their facial recognition technology to enhance biometric solutions at the Australian Turf Club

The iconic thoroughbred racing, events, and hospitality operator, the Australian Turf Club is using Oosto’s facial recognition technology for face-based security protection throughout its facility.

As the largest racetrack in Sydney, the elegant Club’s Royal Randwick Racecourse was bestowed its title by the Queen of England herself and is visited by more than one million patrons each year, creating a complex set of security requirements for guests and employees alike. The Club has also hosted World Youth Day with Pope Benedict and has featured in many blockbuster films including Mission Impossible.

Delivering vast efficiencies

Challenges for security teams included managing evictions of known offenders and self-excluded gaming patrons across multiple entries and exits. Relying on the human eye or memory alone proved to be challenging in recognising repeat offenders at ATC’s other racecourse locations. Coupled with protecting more than 500 staff on major race days, 300 of which are security personnel, the Australian Turf Club was tasked with consistently maintaining a world-class entertainment experience without compromising on safety and security.

Challenges for security teams included managing evictions of known offenders

Once The Australian Turf Club implemented Oosto OnWatch real-time watchlist alerting to recognise potential security threats, the solution delivered vast efficiencies in operations by ensuring that evicted and banned patrons were immediately refused entry, while security teams were able to better track persons of interest throughout the venue without disruption.

Video analytics software

“We take our guests' privacy very seriously and use facial recognition for security and safety purposes only, with clear disclosure and with full compliance with Australian law,” said Gary Colston, Head of Security and Access at Australian Turf Club. “Fair and ethical use of the technology enables us to significantly improve the safety of our guests and staff without compromising strict privacy.”

Colston added: “Positioned at key entry points, our passive cameras were turned into smart cameras with Oosto’s video analytics software nearly instantly. We didn’t have to invest in a bunch of brand new cameras or a massive amount of servers and things like that. It was easy for us to implement it on our system.”

Protecting guarded points

A key differentiation Oosto’s solution offers is the ability for users to search backward in time"

Moreover, said Mr. Colston, “We needed something that was user-friendly. If it’s too complicated, [security teams] won’t use it and it becomes a waste of money.” Working together with security consulting partner firm, Quorum Security, Oosto was able to help ATC significantly improve the rate of detection of persons of interest on site.

Added Eric Yang, Regional Head of Sales, Oosto: “A key differentiation Oosto’s solution offers is the ability for users to search backward in time, by having a photo loaded in the system and locate offenders’ whereabouts historically and quickly, as opposed to tracking their steps only from a specific point in time onwards. We’re very happy to see our product being rolled out here to its best use.”

Facial recognition technology

Oosto’s technology is also in use at the Club to help protect guarded points of entry for authorised employees. According to Mr. Colston, this proved especially beneficial recently: “One of our staff members was assaulted and we were able to obtain a photo of the person we thought had done it and run them through the facial rec system here and we were able to locate him at the event at the time and have that person banned.”

The rate of facial recognition technology adoption among sports venues, casinos, and corporate buildings is increasing as a watchlist alerting, access control, and forensic investigation tool. The market is facing explosive growth and is expected to quadruple by 2026.