Page 110 - Security Today, March 2018

VIDEO SURVEILLANCE –
THE SUREST BET IN THE CASINO
“In Vegas, everybody’s gotta watch everybody else,” Robert De Niro, as Ace Rothstein, says in the 1995 film “Casino.” “The dealers are watching the players. The box men are watching the dealers. The floor men are watching the box men. The pit bosses are watching the floor men... And the eye-in-the-sky is watching us all.”
Of course, the “eye in the sky” he refers to is the video surveillance, which has played a pivotal role within the gaming industry for decades. In casinos, it seems as though the threat of criminal activity is as high as the stakes at the gaming table, making it important that facilities are properly monitored. The knowledge of the cameras offer as much solace to the players as they do to the casino. The idea that a camera doesn’t lie means that the players are as protected from an incompetent dealer, or a light-fingered onlooker, as
the casino is protected from an unscrupulous player. And with the proper surveillance such worries are stifled, and the thrill and enjoyment of the gaming experience prevails.
Certainly, there have been a number of technological improvements to video surveillance since the golden age of gambling depicted in “Casino,” and yet another big change, not to be overlooked, can be found in casino locations. It used to be that all the great casinos were collected within a 10-mile radius in the desert town of Las Vegas. (With a few notable exceptions along the Atlantic City Boardwalk.) But that is no longer the case. Casinos today are popping up all over the map and bringing with them a jackpot of opportunity for security resellers who are familiar with the needs of the casino and the benefits offered through video surveillance.
5 | ScanSource Networking and Security Focus SPRING 2018