Sunny in South Africa

Slot machines, roulette tables and entertainment - the choice at the Grand West Casino near Cape Town leaves nothing to be desired. The Grand West, which is part of the Sun International Group, is the largest casino in South Africa and now also relies on video security technology from Dallmeier. It follows the Golden Valley Casino which is already operating with a solution from the German manufacturer.

Grand West is a huge entertainment hub close to Cape Town in South Africa and operated by the Sun International Group. The heart of the Victorian style complex is the casino building. 2,500 glitzy slot machines and 68 gaming tables - including Blackjack, Poker and American Roulette - provide undiluted gambling pleasure at the highest level. As with the whole facility, the casino itself is designed to reflect the history of Cape Town.
The casino is surrounded by a variety of bars, bistros and restaurants that cater for all tastes. There is also a jazz venue which offers live music on a regular basis. A cinema, a spectacular bowling facility and two ice rinks round off the facilities. Families with kids are welcome too at the Grand West as the small ones have an entire park at their disposal, modelled on the Fort of Good Hope dating from the year 1652. Carousels, a miniature golf course, a rollercoaster as well as a huge ship that can be boarded by the kids prevent any boredom. Additionally, two hotels, the Cape Dutch City Lodge hotel and the Grand Hotel, provide convenient overnight accommodation close to the casino.

Technology in the Course of Time
The security of the guests across the entire entertainment complex and surveillance in the casino have always been a top priority, which is why the casino has been operating a video surveillance system ever since its formal opening in 2000. Meanwhile though, the system originally used no longer met the high requirements of the security personnel. For a long time, analog recorders were used which recorded on VHS cassettes. The system was a high-maintenance installation; wear and tear parts had to be exchanged regularly and the VHS cassettes needed to be changed by hand once the tape was full. Whenever the casino wanted to retrieve relevant image sequences for research purposes, the search was usually very laborious and time-consuming. The individual video cassettes had to be looked at one by one until the required sequence was found. Through frequent viewing, the quality of the tapes became ever worse, which meant that they often had to be exchanged.

The management thus decided to switch to digital recording. A digital matrix was to be used for playback, while the existing analog matrix was to be further used for displaying the live images. In order to realise this a hybrid solution had to be created. The requirements for the new system were also clearly defined for all other aspects of application: reliable recording with the highest possible availability and high-quality images which would provide detailed and clear evidence in the case of an emergency.

When it came to choosing the suitable products, Regensburg based CCTV/IP experts Dallmeier came out on top. Sun International Group had already made positive experience with the German company during the installation work at the Golden Valley Casino.

Recording with 99.99994% Availability
Jaco Coetzee, who is the Director for Gaming Compliance and Tables at Sun International, explains: "Particularly the high availability and reliability of the system were the main reasons for our decision to choose Dallmeier." Thanks to sophisticated technology and an intelligent structure (modular concept), the Dallmeier video system achieves an availability of 99.99994%. This is made possible by storing the data directly at the encoder, the DIS-2/M. Therefore, recording is network-independent, which means it remains intact even in the case of disturbances or a complete network failure.
The DIS-2/M is a one channel audio and video encoder, designed for installation and operation in a 19" module rack. The system is highly service and maintenance friendly. If a disruption occurs, the defective components can be replaced channel by channel. The hot-plugging functionality of the modules enables the exchange to be carried out during operation, thus reducing downtime to a minimum. All in all, more than 900 channels with a total storage capacity of over 500TB are operated at the Grand West Casino.

User-friendly Management
A total of 22 operator stations were installed to facilitate total control and administration of the CCTV system. Fifteen of these workplaces are equipped with a Pview Station PVS IV Plus, a stand-alone evaluation and management station for Dallmeier recorders. Its high-performance CPU delivers judder-free video display at high image quality in up to 14 independent splits. The other seven workstations are equipped with the Semsy security management system, which facilitates efficient control of the complete installation. For example it offers, amongst other things, an easy to use graphic user interface and the facility to integrate site plans to provide intuitive camera selection. Frank Oetjen, Dallmeier Sales Manager for Southern Africa, explains: „We designed the system together with Sun International. Based on the customer's special requirements the system has been customized in order to achieve highest efficiency for the casino's CCTV operation. With the Dallmeier Semsy management system, Grand West Casino is very well prepared for the possible next step of migrating to a full-IP matrix solution."  

Custom-made Casino Solutions
The Grand West Casino is in good company with its new CCTV system as Dallmeier has long been successfully equipping casinos around the world with high-class video security technology. Frank Oetjen once again highlights the company‘s formula for success: "Like other projects before, the Grand West Casino has again demonstrated that the high requirements regarding video surveillance cannot be met by standard mass products. Only a tailor-made solution whose individual components are all specifically developed and manufactured with the operating conditions of casinos in mind can provide the quality and high availability which is partly required by law and is thus so important to casinos."