Inside Asian Gaming

July 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 47 T here are thousands of casinos around the world, attracting millions of customers daily.Millions of dollars flow through those casinos, requiring constant monitoring and presenting a real security challenge to operators. This is where Verint Systems, one of the world’s leading suppliers of surveillance technology, comes in to the story. The company provides systems that extend the abilityof casinomanagers tokeepwatchover their business. It does this by providing what the company calls ‘actionable intelligence’ using analytic software. The systems protect an organisation from outside threat of terrorism and crime, promoting a safe environment for people and commerce. Eyes and ears This technology is as critical to the successful management of casinos as it is to airports.Many casinos are like small cities in their own right, with different ‘districts’ typically including a hotel, gaming tables, slot machines, retail operations, restaurants, hallways, parking lots, and outside perimeters, all requiring surveillance and all spread across a wide area and multiple floor levels. Vigilant staff are vital to a casino’s success, but operators also need the assistance of technology to monitor thousands of square feet and hundreds of cameras. The naked eye alone can’t possibly monitor every inch of perimeter or every transaction against the threat of criminality or negligence. Many applications Verint’s Nextiva Video Solutions have been widely deployed for this purpose in organisations including major airports and seaports, large retailers, government organisations and cities, and mass transit and banking facilities. Nextiva video management systems enhancesituationalawarenessandtransform threat detection from a manual, resource- intensive operation to an efficient, accurate, automated process. Security staff can focus on deterring and managing threats, rather than scanning banks of video monitors trying to detect them.Verint Nextiva Gaming is designed specifically for the needs of the gaming industry. Not all fun and games Any casino securitydirector could tell you about the security challenges encountered onsite. Security personnel must constantly monitor all areas of the casino and must know what staff are working where, and what customers are walking in the doors. Using high quality image transmission, personnel can later reference collected data if an incident occurs and share that information with local authorised agencies, including law enforcement agencies. Verintsystemsalsooptimisetheefficiency of the workforce and of the enterprise by monitoring how employees behave in the work environment, and comparing it with the optimal methods of working as defined by the leaders of the organisation. “Our work is all about gathering information and analysing information in voice, video and data format,” says Ady Meretz, president of Verint’s Asia Pacific operations. Amongst Verint’s gaming customers are Crown Macau and the SJM group of casinos in Macau. Crown Macau implemented state- of-the-art surveillance technology to help protect the six-star casino hotel, which is Taipa’s largest building. “Crown Macau is committed to security excellence and in creating a safe environment for its clients,” said Mr Meretz.“Using a solution like Verint’s Nextiva helps provide authorised security personnel and executives with visibility to theiroperations,anytimeandfromanywhere. Nextiva’s intelligent video distribution and automated process activation reinforce security policies and procedures.” Playing the odds Having security hardware such as CCTV cameras is a good first step for any business, but all that data isn’t of much good unless it can be acted on in a timelymanner. Installing the right technology at a casino canhelpwith many areas including managing liability. It is not unheard of for a customer of a casino to claim for personal injury by alleging that they slipped on the premises.Using captured video of the incident helps prove to a court or tribunal whether for example a wet floor was caused by that customer purposely spilling his drink. Using a video management system Watching Brief Verint leads the way in casino security Casino Security