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Gambling on technology

The ultimate security operation at any casino is one that protects against losses and mitigates risk, while ensuring a safe and secure environment for all employees and patrons. Unlike airports, railways and city centres where the presence of security makes people feel safe, the security within the casino needs to be tight yet highly discreet. When patrons are gambling, they want to be assured that they are in a safe environment, but they do not want to feel like their every movement is being monitored. For this reason, the security teams operating in the 37 casinos throughout South Africa need to walk this fine line.

The Casino Association of South Africa (CASA) represents 35 of the 37 casinos operating in the country and in its 2011 survey of ‘Casino entertainment in South Africa’ it reports that revenues from gambling have grown year-on-year over the past decade, with casinos responsible for more than R14 billion of the R17 billion that was generated by all forms of legal gambling. Today, the casino industry is responsible for 52 000 jobs and a large number of corporate social investment initiatives.

Clearly, the safety and security of these establishments is not only to the benefit of casino operators and the wider industry, but also local communities and the national economy. So, what are the latest initiatives in the world of gaming security? Let us start by looking at the beating heart of the casino – the gaming tables.

Video surveillance and video analytics

NICE Systems works with hundreds of casinos around the world and if I ask any of them to name their top priority, the answer will undoubtedly be to drive revenue and improve the bottom-line. At the heart of every successful casino is the gaming floor that needs to perform 24-hours a day, seven days a week smoothly, securely and at maximum efficiency.

To aid this maximum uptime and completely invisible to players and dealers, is the use of sophisticated video surveillance and analytics. These solutions enable casino operators to track, manage and improve game security and operational efficiency.

Using these real-time video analytics capabilities, surveillance operators in the control room can take the guesswork out of protecting each and every table by immediately replaying a hand for swift verification of a large win or dispute, ensuring no fraud has taken place and that the correct payment is made. Similarly, it provides the ability to retrieve and review the moments before a slot machine dispenses a jackpot to assess whether the machine had been tampered with. What is more, these solutions take some of the pressure away from surveillance teams, enabling them to focus on other areas (such as observing unusual behaviours and actions on the gaming floor), safe in the knowledge that games in and out of play are being watched.

Optimising gaming table uptime is the number one security measure for driving revenues, but when it comes to security, every area of the casino needs to be monitored and protected. Furthermore, video surveillance provides croupiers and cashiers with a safe and supportive environment, whilst providing a deterrent for those that may succumb to temptation.

Multimedia incident management

Proactive video security measures are invaluable, however, it is also important to have the right systems and procedures in place to manage an incident, whether it is a case of fraud, assault, robbery etc.

So, you might be surprised to learn that the next key trend in gaming security comes from a technology that is typically associated with the emergency services. For many years, Multimedia Incident Management systems have been successfully used by the likes of the New York City Police and fire departments and the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) to help them manage investigations into incidents and accidents. Having experience of implementing more than 1000 of these systems it is clear to me that they have an awful lot to offer the gaming industry and it seems to agree, with Casino Journal placing the technology in its Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products.

Liability claims, cheating and scams can cost casinos millions. Furthermore, negative publicity stemming from incidents can damage the hard won reputation of a casino. Having the ability to manage, review, reconstruct and even replay an incident scenario, to find out what happened and when, can provide a hugely valuable safeguard that can quickly resolve disputes, minimise losses, mitigate risks and help to reduce the likelihood of its reoccurrence.

Using this technology surveillance video (whether via existing megapixel, IP or analogue cameras located internally and externally), voice recording, desktop screens etc are all seamlessly combined into a complete, authentic, chronological incident timeline for a 360° incident view.

As I mentioned earlier, gaming revenues in South Africa have been steadily rising, however, the state of the global economy cannot be ignored and casinos are on the look out to leverage their existing investments in security technology, just as every other organisation in every other market. Both video analytics and Multimedia Information Management systems are ideal in this respect as they have been developed to integrate with existing security systems.

Hybrid systems – analogue to IP

In recent years we have seen a shift towards a wholly IP infrastructure, driven by longer term cost savings, operational efficiency gains and the desire to take advantage of the next generation of security systems, as well as make better use of their investments in IT network upgrades. The biggest obstacle in achieving this goal is a reluctance to rip and replace perfectly fit and healthy analogue cameras. It is reported that as recently as 2009, 85% of casinos in Las Vegas were using analogue systems.

To overcome this challenge there is a new breed of hybrid systems emerging on the market, which provide the ideal path to taking advantage of IP without the cost and upheaval of a major refit. These systems give casinos the power to migrate to IP at their own pace and budget, whilst getting all of the benefits that an IP video management system (VMS) can bring.

These hybrid systems can improve the performance of analogue cameras by adding new functionality typically considered the preserve of an all IP infrastructure, such as automatic camera tampering detection, automatic VPO (visual parameters optimiser) and video analytics.

PSIM and situational management

Finally, a major trend in security right now is PSIM (physical security information management), otherwise known as situational management and it is something all casino operators should be keeping a close eye on. Fundamentally, situational management gives a complete real-time overview of what is happening, where and provides actions based on pre-defined business processes and security protocols.

In much the same way that hybrid systems enable casinos to leverage existing infrastructure, situational management solutions link together every system (new or old) to provide one holistic view of an operation. Video, access control, fire alarms, smoke detectors (Ziton) and propriety systems such as the CASA suspects database can all be incorporated into a single view, allowing any incidents large or small to be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Pre-defined procedures and regulations can be followed to the letter, making sure the correct action is taken, every time, with a full audit trail to prove it.

For gaming establishments, situational management has obvious security and safety benefits, but there are also major advantages from a revenue perspective. Put simply, one less building evacuation as a result of somebody smoking in the toilets and setting off a smoke or fire alarm saves money. A situational management solution that can identify exactly where the alarm is going off; can automatically direct the nearest camera to view that area; can automatically dispatch the nearest security guard to investigate by sending relevant details to a mobile device – along with a picture of the likely suspect; will all help to deal with an incident safely, securely and efficiently.

Of course, you can have the very best security systems but without reliability, resilience, redundancy and high-availability a vital piece of the puzzle is missing. A fundamental requirement to underpin the security infrastructure of every casino should be Zero-Point-of-Failure – a mechanism that automatically switches over to back-up units in the event of any system component failure.

The gaming community has traditionally been early adopters of the very latest technologies and their security systems and operations the envy of many other industries. However, now is the time to look at the existing investments that have been made and to ask ‘Can we do more with them?’

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