Planet 13, Las Vegas’ superstore marijuana dispensary, is the largest in the world. It offers its customers an immersive experience, with fog, mist, and even 15-foot-tall interactive lotus flowers. When it comes to ID verification, they maintain the highest level of compliance in the cannabis retail industry.

An elevated approach

Although the Nevada Cannabis Control Board requires digital ID scanning, Planet 13 takes it to the next level, with powerful ID authentication at each of their 16 Las Vegas check-in stations. 

Planet 13 requirements

The cannabis business knew they needed age verification software and an ID checker that could, at minimum:

• Meets all Nevada Cannabis Control Board compliance regulations
• Read both ID barcodes and passport MRZ
• MRZ reading capabilities for passports and passport IDs
• Age and ID verification system that immediately alerts the dispensary of attempted customer entry with a suspicious or fraudulent ID, attempted underage entry, and/or attempted entry with an expired ID
• Subscription-style service with automatic updates to ensure ongoing compliance with changing regulations

What is ID authentication?

Authentication goes beyond just ID scanning, and means that every ID is photographed using white light, UV light, and infrared light – giving the highest degree of confidence in ID authenticity.

“Planet 13 is always going to meet the highest standards, whatever they are. Age verification is no different. Being the best and being a model for other dispensaries is just our core ethos.”

Planet 13 Executive

All Planet 13 scanners sync with their centralized visitor management system, VeriScan Enterprise. VeriScan works with all commonly sold scanners. The VeriScan authentication engine is purpose built for detecting fake IDs. It uses AI to perform more than 100 checks for known fake ID “tells.”

Key security benefits of ID authentication

IDs which are flagged as suspicious by the VeriScan software trigger alerts to store security.

• Catch the highest percentage of fake IDs
• White light/UV light/infrared light checks
• Hologram and watermark checks
• Simultaneous six image capture 
• Simultaneously capture and read data from the front and back of the ID
• Prevent underage sales by checking date-of-birth against today’s date
• Stop previously banned patrons from entering the dispensary

In addition to scanning and verification, VeriScan performs ID parsing, which takes fields stored in the barcode and converts them to readable data. This allows Planet 13 to easily collect names and demographic /geographic information about all of their guests. 

VeriScan is fully integrated into Planet 13’s point-of-sale system, Dutchie. Data parsed from the ID, including the image on the ID, is ingested into the Dutchie system to help speed the purchase process. Attempted use of fake or false IDs can be added to the individual profile to help create a risk-score. 

Because all Planet 13 scanners sync to a central database, banned patrons are immediately flagged at all entry-points. This centralized database also allows for multiscan alerting to maintain compliance with anti-looping laws.

Outcome

ID scanning at every entrance allows Planet 13 to have best-in-class security and meet the highest standards of compliance, serving as a model throughout the cannabis industry.

 The collection of demographic information has provided insights into customers’ profiles, which is especially salient as Planet 13 expands its footprint into other states while supplementing its superstores with smaller, neighborhood retail shops.

ID scanning solutions for the cannabis industry

Simply use our dispensary ID scanner, and our software instantly alerts you if the ID is suspicious or your guest is under 21, using either standalone solutions or our seamless POS integrations. IDScan.net and VeriScan solutions serve MSOs, enterprise dispensary operations, single-location dispensaries, and cannabis couriers. We are continuously monitoring the compliance landscape to ensure we help every dispensary meet their regulatory requirements for ID scanning, age verification, and data retention. IDScan.net integrates seamlessly into cannabis industry software, ensuring your customer data enters the system with 100% accuracy, and each ID scan can be associated with visit and purchase history. Compliance auditors love IDScan.net customers because of their clean, accurate customer data.