Casino Chips May Pave Way for Tagged Bank Notes

[senorpepr]

LONDON (Reuters) - New casino chips with built-in radio identification tags may pave the way for traceable banknotes, boosting efforts to beat fraud, New Scientist Magazine said on Wednesday.

A radio frequency identification tag (RFID) in the chips will enable casinos to spot counterfeits and monitor the behavior of gamblers, allowing them to check that big winners are not cheating the house.

The tags broadcast a unique identification code when triggered by a reader device and can work over distances of up to a few dozen meters.

If the technology can be transferred to notes, banks and stores will easily be able to check that money is not counterfeit.

Last year there was speculation that the European Central Bank was planning to fit radio tags in euro banknotes to combat fraud.

But the idea met with strong opposition from privacy advocates who objected to the possibility that individuals' spending could be tracked.