If you don't like being on camera, don't step into a casino.
"There's nowhere on the casino floor that you can hide," said Thomas Quigley, director of surveillance at Rivers Casino.
Quigley, interim general manager Joe Barrett and officials of the state Gaming Control Board Bureau of Casino Compliance took Player's Advantage on a security tour that included a stop at the surveillance room, which normally is off-limits even to most casino employees. The Trib was not allowed to take photographs there.
Inside the second-floor room, behind two locked doors, a staff of five watched dozens of monitors providing feeds from 1,024 cameras stationed throughout the casino. One monitor at each work station showed a layout of the casino floor; a touch of the screen immediately brought up a live shot of that area.
Most cameras are in bubbles hanging from the ceiling. The surveillance crew can zoom in or out and pan up or down to get the view they want. One looked closely at the hands of a bettor placing a $100 chip on the pass line at craps table 705. Switching to a view of a blackjack table, he pulled back for a full-face shot of a player and made a series of still images.
The staff can watch any slot machine as it pays out or as players put money into it. Two tags on the front of each machine provide identification. One shows the machine's location on the floor and is changed when the machine is moved. The other number, an "asset tag," stays on a machine no matter where it is moved.
The reason for all the surveillance is "to make sure we have the integrity of the table games, all functions of the cage and slot machines," Quigley said. "The bottom line is to protect our customers and our employees and the assets of the company,"
The constant surveillance is required by state law as well as the casino's need to guard against all forms of skullduggery in an operation with so much cash in play that it gets daily visits from armored trucks. State regulations stipulate that the cameras record any armored truck delivery or pickup as well.
"There's nothing that these (surveillance) guys and girls cannot see on the casino floor, by regulation," Quigley said. Bathrooms are exempt.
The state requires that surveillance cameras cover all entrances and exits to the casino floor, count room and casino cage; all gaming operations; all ATMs and bill-breaking machines; and the movement of cash boxes.
In addition, the surveillance crew uses radios to stay in touch with the casino security force, the Gaming Control Board's casino compliance representatives and the state police stationed on-site.
"We're their eyes and ears up here," said Quigley, who has seen technology evolve from the days when the only way to get an overhead view of the floor was to station security officers on catwalks hidden above the ceiling.
He said officials on the floor might request a close look at the high roller area or a suspected "shot-taker" who tries to bend the rules.
The surveillance staff has databases of suspected cheaters, problem gamblers who have put themselves on the state's self-exclusion list and "skill players," including blackjack card counters.
Casinos can be fined for allowing someone on the self-exclusion list to gamble.
Using facial recognition software, the crew's computers can get measurements of a player's face -- the distance between the eyes, for example -- and instantly compare those with people in the database. The databases come from law enforcement agencies and other casinos.
The Rivers' file on a well-known card counter included a note that he had been seen in an Atlantic City casino a few days earlier.
Casinos watch for high-betting card-counters because they're perceived as a threat to the bottom line. Card counters mentally track the ratio of high-value cards to low-value cards as they are dealt. When the deck gets rich in high-value cards, the advantage shifts to the player and a card counter increases his bet.
"It's not illegal to count cards. You can't have electronic devices," Quigley said. "We have the right (to say) 'you're welcome in our establishment, just don't play blackjack. Go play dice.'"
Other anti-counter tactics include limiting how much the player can bet. Quigley said skill players get the message quickly and move on.
WSOP qualifier
Poker players have another chance this weekend to win a $10,000 seat at the Main Event of the World Series of Poker in July in Las Vegas. The $125 buy-in satellite tournament will start at noon Sunday at The Meadows. In addition to the Main Event seat, the winner gets $2,000 cash. So far, the casino has awarded six Main Event seats and seven Senior WSOP seats worth $1,000 each. The next senior qualifier will be May 15, with a $70 buy-in. Two more Main Event satellites are planned.
Money trail
Slot players lost $45.7 million at Pennsylvania's 10 casinos in the week ended April 24, the Gaming Control Board said. That's up from $44.2 million in the comparable week last year, when nine casinos were open.
The players' losses are reported to the state as gross slot revenue for the casinos. State taxes take 55 percent of gross.
Since the fiscal year started in July, the statewide slot payout rate is 90.26 percent. For every $100 bet, the machines returned an average of $90.26 to players.
Gross slot revenue for Western Pennsylvania casinos for the week ended April 24:
- $5.15 million: Rivers, on bets totaling $65.6 million. Slot payout since July: 90.1 percent.
- $4.26 million: The Meadows, on bets totaling $52.6 million. Slot payout since July: 90.16 percent.
- $3.15 million: Presque Isle in Erie, on bets totaling $43.9 million. Slot payout since July: 90.34 percent.
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Do casinos ever close?
Not around here, although regulations can differ in other states. Pennsylvania defines the gaming day as lasting from 6 a.m. to 5:59:59 a.m.
