Casino Security

The title of this section is a bit of a misnomer. Although the security department is incredibly important in any casino, the crucial area is the surveillance department. The director of surveillance in any casino is THE individual responsible for safety, security, surveillance…and even to ensure that security officers aren’t doing something wrong. The surveillance department is entirely separate from the security department, though they work in tandem. Surveillance personnel have their own entrance, they do not fraternize with other employees (most employees wouldn’t know them if they saw them) and they do not patronize their own casinos, not even for dinner. They are totally accountable to the Gaming Commission of the state.

That being said, consider this caveat: Do not even contemplate cheating in a Las Vegas casino (where the very best and latest surveillance/security measures are in place). You will be caught. Try to steal a woman’s purse while she’s playing the slot machines? You will be caught. Try to rig a slot machine? You will be caught. Try to cheat in any card game? You will be caught. The surveillance room, which is located above the casino floor, is monitoring every part of the casino and hotel. The sole exceptions are the bathrooms and your hotel room, for obvious privacy reasons. Cameras used in casinos/hotels are hidden, can see everywhere, are color to distinguish chips on tables and currency in the money counting and cashier areas. You cannot escape them.

I am constantly astounded by what surveillance cameras can pick up. I have seen them catching people switching cards at blackjack, changing the chips, rigging slot machines, nabbing a purse snatcher and even once catching a security officer perpetrating a crime! The color cameras pick up the chip colors quite nicely. The purse snatcher was a good example of how today’s cameras can follow you anywhere. He grabbed a purse while the woman wasn’t watching and started weaving through the casino thinking he could outrun anyone. From the second he took the purse, he was on camera and his every movement was tracked. Surveillance contacted security who knew right where he was. It took two officers to arrest him, but they did.

Another thing to remember is that everything is on videotape or digital backup. So any incident can be viewed as many times as needed to ensure everything is correct. Casinos also have a database of known cheaters. If they suspect someone of cheating, they can instantly check the database. If the person is in there, he or she will be escorted from the casino. And casinos share this information. So if you’ve been thrown out of a Las Vegas casino for cheating, do NOT expect to move to Atlantic City and strike it rich.

 Now, to give you an idea of what is involved in a security system, let me tell you about the latest and greatest—the security system installed in the brand new (May 2005) Wynn Las Vegas Casino, Hotel and Resort. They had one year to install the completely digital system, which received full certification from Nevada’s Gaming Control Board just days before the casino opened. This system, aside from being noted for its enormous size and all-digital nature, integrates a Honeywell Video Systems’ Enterprise Solution with a Video Blox UTP matrix system [the details in case you wish info from the companies involved] controlled by Honeywell’s MAX1000 management system. Tied into this system is an enterprise-wide Lenel alarm system.

The system is a masterpiece and secures: more than 2,700 hotel rooms, a resort that cost $2.7 billion, a lavish setting that covers over 200 acres (including a golf course), a 2,000+ seat theater, 117 gaming tables, almost 2,000 slot machines, plus a sports/race book and individual areas for keno, poker and baccarat spreading across the 100,000+ square feet of casino space. If you add in 220,000+ square feet of convention/trade show space and 76,000 square feet of retail (including a Ferrari dealership inside the resort!), and you can get an idea of the system’s scope. Not all casino security systems are this advanced, but they all WILL catch you if you do something you shouldn’t!

                                                   Blackdog                                                                                                        

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