This year’s Consumer Electronics Show further proved Dallas-Fort Worth’s status as a growing hub for innovation through a myriad of local companies and corporations showcasing their latest and greatest. One major announcement came from Addison-based Spacee, which formed a partnership that’s allowing the startup to step into a new industry—and potentially transform it.

Spacee, led by Founder and CEO Skip Howard, revolutionizes retail through custom experiences using only light and motion. The new type of frictionless augmented reality, with its patented virtual touch technology, can transform any 2D or 3D surface into an interactive and unbreakable touch screen. That means there’s no installments, phones, helmets, eyeglasses, or tablets required.

While most of what we’ve seen from Spacee coincides with retailers (a frictionless shopping experience, intelligent apparel technology, a “kiosk without a kiosk”), Howard revealed last week that Spacee is now tackling something totally different than its bread and butter: casinos.

At the close of CES, Spacee announced a partnership with Konami Gaming, Inc. on new tech to improve the playing experience. As the Las Vegas-based subsidiary of global entertainment developer KONAMI HOLDINGS CORPORATION, Konami Gaming is one of the leaders in designing and manufacturing slot machines and casino management systems. It’s another big name to add to Spacee’s growing list, which has already worked with Dell, Intel, NTT Data, and many more.

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Together, Konami and Spacee (with help from their friends at Intel) are working on interactive tables and facial recognition, the second of which Spacee interfaces with but did not build. 

With the facial recognition tech, guests wouldn’t need a card or log-in to use a machine. They’re instantly recognized and their account is pulled up upon sitting down.

“If you go to the consumer side, it’s a convenient thing,” Thomas Jingoli, executive vice president of Konami Gaming, told AP News. “Some people, they don’t want to carry a card around. They don’t want to have a key fob, or a kiosk and they can just log in with a button and get off and get playing the machines.”

And with card tables, Konami is using Spacee software to help casinos avoid deploying touch screens or visitors to have to bring a cell phone. The same cards and chips are used, but the experience is augmented so that it doesn’t slow the game or vary a time-tested practice. There’s functions that allow real-time marketing bonusing, calling a host, or ordering a drink, as reported by AP.

But, like with all Spacee products, nobody has to actually touch the table. See it in action here, courtesy of Howard and his Spacee team.

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