Casino’s surveillance upgrade brings gamblers’ faults and fakes into high focus
Meadows Surveillance Operator Ryan Ermlick surveys the casino floor for any activity of interest. The Meadows Casino recently completed a $2.8 million upgrade of its security and surveillance systems.
The new HD surveillance cameras allow the surveillance room to zoom in so close that serial numbers on paper bills are visible.
Surveillance Technician Shawn Bargerstock surveys the monitors for any sign of activity of interest. The surveillance system helps catch people participating in illegal activity as well as help find customersþÄô lost items.
MEADOW LANDS – In a small room on the property of The Meadows Casino, a surveillance operator sitting in front of a collection of flat-screen monitors demonstrated for reporters how she can direct a camera in the cashier’s cage to focus on an employee counting money. The high-definition camera honed in on a $5 bill on top of a stack of money, clearly showing the serial number.
It’s that kind of detail Meadows officials said is helping to further enhance gaming protection.
Ever since it opened the permanent casino in July 2009, The Meadows has protected its gambling assets and its guests with 1,200 surveillance cameras mounted in the ceiling of the gaming area and other areas across the 350,000-square-foot facility in North Strabane Township.
But casino officials, along with those from Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, showed off an improved surveillance system Thursday that upped the ante against cheats, card-counters and other “bad actors” who try to steal the winnings or personal belongings of other patrons.
The Meadows recently completed a $2.8 million upgrade of its security and surveillance system that included the conversion of more than 300 of its 1,200 cameras to high-definition models that cover the entire gaming floor of the facility, one of the largest casinos on the East Coast.
“We’re the only one in Southwestern Pennsylvania that has this capability,” said Meadows General Manager Sean Sullivan.
The system is monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days per year by a trained, professional team of 25 that Sullivan and others in The Meadows management refer to as “our bloodhounds.”
In addition to ensuring no one is cheating at table games or walking out with someone else’s winnings, the system also helps guests who are simply forgetful, leaving their cellphones or glasses behind.
Just a couple of hours before Thursday’s media tour, a surveillance officer was alerted to a purse left on top of a slot machine.
By looking back through the videos of the area from earlier in the morning, he was able to identify the woman to whom the purse belonged and to see it was returned to her.
But with the kind of detail that lets them see serial numbers on currency, the bloodhounds can also see who’s cheating and who’s playing by the rules at the casino’s 82 gaming tables and 3,100 slot machines.
Surveillance room supervisor Tim Timko, a security veteran with 25 years working in Las Vegas casinos, said he trains each of the camera operators how to deal cards, as well as how to count cards, so they know when someone is cheating.
“If you think you’re going to come in here and watch TV, you’re never going to catch anybody. You have to want to learn,” Timko said of surveillance officers who become successful at their jobs.
In addition to the cameras, the operators are also assisted by other types of information, such as the data they can glean from guests using the casino’s “Players Club” cards when they’re gambling.
The information has been used to catch people who have been gambling by using someone else’s membership cards. The surveillance system is also indispensable in apprehending people who are on a casino’s self-exclusion list because of gambling problems, but decide to take up gambling again.
PGCB spokesman Doug Harbach said there are about 10,000 people who placed themselves on casino self-exclusion lists across the state. He said about 2,200 were caught breaching their decision.
Harbach and Sullivan said the surveillance team works directly with state police and members of the PGCB, who are also based at The Meadows Casino, to apprehend people seen committing illegal acts.
Despite competing with other area casinos for gambling revenue, The Meadows also shares information with the state’s other casinos about “bad actors” who pass through its doors, alerting them whenever it detects gamblers working in teams and using illicit methods to win.
“We’re all on the same page when it comes to this kind of system,” said Kevin Brogan, director of marketing for The Meadows Casino.
“We want people to win, but we want them to win by the rules,” Sullivan said.