The casino gaming industry is booming. Contributing $261 billion to the U.S. economy and supporting nearly 1.8 million jobs, the gaming sector has a huge economic impact.
A key part of the successful operation of gaming facilities is their security and crime prevention tactics.
With such a high volume of visitors each day in addition to the valuable assets stored on site, casinos must be able to deter theft and other illegal activity. Recent advancements in video technologies are not only delivering a heightened level of security, but they are also providing key operation insights that casino owners are using to drive efficiencies and sustain revenues.
To enable this kind of data, casinos are deploying high-performing video capture and recording systems comprising state-of-the-art technologies. These systems feature high-resolution cameras with wide coverage and low-light technology to improve visibility. Video analytics, such as object recognition, facial detection and heat mapping, are being deployed to classify what is being viewed and enable trend analysis and reporting.
To aggregate, filter and preserve all of this video and the metadata that goes with it, casinos are implementing surveillance-optimized solutions like Seagate Technology’s SkyHawk and SkyHawk AI hard drives for their NVRs and DVRs for edge recording. For applications where video is streaming from thousands of cameras, casinos are installing Seagate’s Exos enterprise drives, which are known for their ability to scale to thousands of petabytes and enable instantaneous data transfer. Finally, gaming facilities are using an open-architecture, scalable video management system to integrate all of these technologies for easy management and control.
By implementing advanced surveillance systems with these video solutions, casino owners improve edge recording, amplify edge computing and see the benefits of real-time data insights.
Here’s how a casino surveillance system all comes together
When a camera at a casino entrance positively identifies the face of a VIP customer, an alert is sent to a senior management executive to come to the lobby to personally greet the individual and provide a higher level of customer service. On the other hand, when a camera in a parking garage detects inappropriate behavior, it notifies the remote operator so that a security guard can be dispatched to de-escalate the situation. In the security control room, the people who monitor such issues are no longer necessarily spending hours reviewing video for investigative purposes. Thanks to video analytics, these security officers are able to quickly search for specific objects, people or events of interest.
Beyond security, heat mapping identifies the highest traffic areas throughout the entire casino facility, which can be valuable information for improving customer experiences and maximizing business for the gaming, food and retail departments. Meanwhile, video cameras connected to point-of-sale terminals in cafes allow managers to verify guests are being charged correctly for their orders. Cameras installed in dock areas enable logistics staff to track and verify shipments.
Thanks to the continued advances in the video capture, data management, analytics, and storage technologies that go into the latest surveillance systems, casinos are better equipped to deter crime, and improve business operations in myriad ways.
