Possibilities in Casino Security

Casinos and gaming establishments tricky environments to secure. These facilities are usually open to the public, at all hours of the day and night, and large sums of cash are carried across their floors by staff and patrons. Analyzing gaming behavior at tables and determining cases of internal theft keep surveillance teams alert, but most importantly, their job is to ensure the highest levels of customer satisfaction. When customers are happy, they keep coming back.

While unified security investments can help enhance the effectiveness of surveillance teams, the Genetec Security Center platform is engineered to do more. Here are a few real-life examples of how Security Center is used for security and operational benefits of casino customers.

Montréal Casino
On a recent visit to the ‘Casino de Montréal’, GIT SECURITY saw for itself over 5.2 million visitors per year are kept safe with the help of the Genetec security system. Located directly opposite the ‘Vieux-Port’, the Old Port, of Montréal in the midst of an island in the Saint Lawrence river lies the center of gaming and money: The Casino de Montréal. Over a total area of 61,116 square meters, it features all forms of gambling, a multifunctional hall for shows and various events, as well as restaurants and bars. A place to enjoy the pleasures of life and leave all cares behind. To maintain a carefree atmosphere, the security set-up needs to run in all areas, discrete, yet highly functional at all times. Daniel Couture, Head of Investigation and Surveillance Operations, and Claude Laramée, Technical Security Supervisor, are the faces behind the impeccably smooth-running Security Operations. The gaming area of the Casino in Montréal is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With a gaming area that is almost as wide as four football fields and maintained by over 2,500 employees, it is a high-maintenance job to expose scammers and more importantly to keep visitors and staff safe. According to Genetec, there are 1,600 security cameras that guard 3,000 doors, including 40 cameras with automated license plate recognition software.

Discreetly Handling Internal Theft ­Investigations at Casinos
With video linked to POS transactions, a surveillance operator can be alerted to suspicious register activity such as multiple ‘comps’ being issued within a specific time frame at a restaurant. Using a ‘send task’ feature, the operator can escalate the incident to the supervisor with associated video and metadata. The surveillance director can then discreetly put the employee on ‘close watch’, and launch a covert operation using camera blocking, restricting access to everyone else in the team. One click activates a tile recording feature that collects every morsel of evidence, from video to metadata. With satisfactory evidence, another click launches automatic storyboarding of the entire investigation. Various encryptions and watermarking help ensure the integrity of the data in the case.

Leveraging ALPR Data
After installing the AutoVu ALPR system, other Genetec gaming customers including the Montréal Casino began using ALPR data to track inbound customers based on the state registered to their license plate. When they realized a sudden and drastic decline from a specific zip code in the winter months, the casino looked into the issue. Soon after, they uncovered that a lot of the visitors were elderly patrons who were not willing to drive to the casino in snowy, slippery conditions. The customer decided to promote free bus trips to the casino, bringing happy customers back and capitalizing on the AutoVu ALPR data in a big way.

Casino in Sacramento
Located just outside Sacramento in Citrus Heights, California, Stones Gambling Hall is the first of its kind in the California gaming industry. This new premier card house is comprised of two licensed gaming establishments, namely the Tavern and the Saloon, within one state-of-the-art facility. Visitors to the casino are offered first-class card rooms for both blackjack and poker, as well as, many other exciting table games and a full-service bar and restaurant.

The Challenge
At the start of the building’s refurbishment, management of Stones Gambling Hall set very high expectations for the quality of construction, architectural design, and general amenity. These high-quality standards extended to the selection and installation of its security system. While both video surveillance and access control systems were required, management wanted to eventually add a license plate recognition system to monitor vehicles coming into their parking garage.

Results
Today, the security team at Stones Gambling Hall uses the Security Center Omnicast system to manage close to 200 network cameras inside and outside of the two gaming establishments. The Security Center Synergis system is being used to control access to 25 doors which lead to the back-of-house areas. Choosing an open-architecture platform gave Stones the ability to select its preferred video devices, door hardware, and card technology. According to Turner, ‘The deep level of integration between video surveillance and access control, and the extent of time-saving functionality within this unified platform, has been a tremendous help to our team. Having the ability to view video alongside cardholder credentials and pictures makes it easier for the team to see who is accessing which areas of the site and to quickly respond to access-denied events within the platform.’

Secure real-time Monitoring
By deploying the system in a secure multicast environment, the response time of cameras and accuracy of PTZ controls is encrypted and incredibly fast. Management can view camera feeds or manage doors from their mobile devices using the Security Center mobile app. This helps them monitor incidents or verify jackpot wins from anywhere. “The synchronization between Active Directory and Security Center is seamless and makes my job of managing all access control credentials easier,” said David Gray, IT Manager. “The reporting functionality is a timesaver when trying to find out who accessed which areas, and in pulling daily event lists and bookmarks such as Title 31,” explained Turner.