6 Areas to Focus on When Buying a Casino Grade CCTV Camera System

Casino Security CCTV

If you’re in the market for new casino security cameras for your casino, gaming, or betting establishment, chances are you already have some kind of system in place. What isn’t so certain, however, is how effective this system is at addressing the specific problems faced by casinos – such as helping you resolve cash disputes at tables, avoiding fraud, and addressing potential antisocial and criminal behaviour. A lot of general-purpose CCTV systems – designed for retail or commercial spaces – simply aren’t configured for these purposes.

In this article, we address seven areas to focus on when upgrading your CCTV and surveillance system, so you get a casino-grade system that is tailor-made to improve security and enhance your customer experience.

1) The intended location of the cameras

The first consideration is where to place your cameras in order to achieve the best coverage area. We find that many casino cameras are set up without a clear purpose, leading to inaccurate image and audio recordings. To avoid this, look for a service that includes a site survey of your casino that identifies the best locations for your cameras and mics – such as in or on the tables, or at strategic points around the ceiling. This will streamline your system by ensuring you don’t pay for more cameras than you need, and will optimise performance.

2) Audio integration

High quality audio integration is essential for casino security, especially sensitive audio cameras that are designed to accurately pick up sound in loud areas. This allows you to, for instance, resolve customer disputes about which number they called at a table, reducing both fraud and erroneous pay outs. 

Good audio integration also helps your security team by promoting greater situational awareness. For example, if someone starts speaking in an aggressive tone, the camera system will flag that there may be a potential developing problem, allowing your security team to defuse the situation before it escalates. On a more serious level, your system can quickly pick up the sound of breaking glass or gunshots, with the potential to send a direct alarm to the police and allow a more rapid response.

3) Image quality

For any CCTV camera system to be effective, it must have a suitable level of image quality. For casino-grade security cameras, this includes the potential for accurate facial recognition under variable lighting conditions – including areas with low and ambient lighting. This isn’t just a matter of camera technology, but also of industry-specific knowledge. Purchasing a camera system through a casino specialist, such as HD Integrated, will ensure your cameras are set up in the optimum positions for your casino, so they can get clear face shots and attain maximum coverage per camera.

High quality cameras can also help you with crowd control and customer analysis. By accurately conveying headcounts, gender, and age profiles of customers coming in and out, your casino cameras will give you a better idea of crowd numbers in particular rooms than mechanical counters on the door. The camera will know, for instance, if someone has just popped in and straight back out again, and will help your door staff make better judgement calls about when to stop letting people in, or when to target specific customer demographics in order to reach your target age profile.

4) Advanced features

It is the advanced features that set an excellent casino CCTV camera system apart from one that is merely okay. The latest systems feature heat mapping, which lets you pinpoint areas of concern, even in crowded or noisy environments, by reading people’s body temperature and movement. You’ll quickly be able to identify a customer dispute, for example, or occasions where a customer may need medical assistance, and issue immediate alerts. Some systems also come with customer movement analysis, which tracks the movement of individual customers in your casino to flag up unusual or suspicious behaviour – such as if someone is loitering, has abandoned a bag and then left the area, or is hanging around the loading bay.

5) How will the lighting affect the CCTV recording?

In an ideal world, a CCTV camera would like to operate in a uniform bright environment that mimics natural daylight, such as a supermarket or shopping centre. This, however, is not the ambience or experience most casino patrons look for! In practice, different areas of the casino have different lighting environments, with subtle mood lighting for bars and dance floors, and a mix of brighter and mid-level lighting in gaming rooms. A casino CCTV system should be set up to track the movement of patrons between these areas, and accurately record and transmit data under all lighting conditions.

6) Decide how much support & maintenance you want

Depending on your staffing levels and the size of your premises, you’ll need to decide how much support and maintenance you need for your camera system. The more sophisticated and tailored the system, the less maintenance it will need. In a casino-grade security system, each camera has a specific purpose and is configured for on-board analytics, which improves the accuracy of the system and saves you time. However, it is usually cost-effective to have a support contract in place that covers routine maintenance and emergency repairs, ensuring you won’t have to close venues or lose revenue if there is an issue with your cameras.

Find out more

At HD Integrated, we provide bespoke casino-grade security systems to gaming establishments around the world, incorporating casino CCTV security cameras, alarms, intruder detection systems, body-worn video, and a range of analytics solutions. To discuss your requirements, or for a free quote, please get in touch with one of our casino security specialists today.