The Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington, Pennsylvania recently
invested $2.8 million to upgrade its security and surveillance system. More than 300 of the racino’s 1,200 cameras were converted to high definition, and the sharper images make it easier for surveillance operators, or “bloodhounds,” as Surveillance Director Tim Timko calls them, to scan two banks of TV monitors every minute, every hour, every day, to see what’s happening on the 180,000 square foot casino floor. “It helps us to identify the bad guys even better. It’s only enhancing the protection of everyone, the patrons and the employees,” Timko said.
Surveillance operators closely watch the daily count to make sure employees are following proper procedures and don’t accidentally leave cash in the money holders taken from slot machines—or give in to temptation. Operators also must know how to play all of the table games and know the procedures used by dealers and other employees who manage them. If a surveillance operator spots a player who may be counting cards—”moving his money with the count”—the pit boss will be notified and decide whether to remove the player. Card-counting is not illegal but Meadows management believes it give the player too much of an edge.
“There are some people who are pros. There are probably 50 of them in the world. That’s all they do for a living, and they’ll knock your socks off,” Timko said.
Surveillance operators also watch for cheating. Recently, the Meadows caught someone trying to “cap” his bet, meaning he tried to add money to a winning wager. The opposite of that is “pinching” a bet, or trying to take back money from a losing wager. “That’s two forms of regular kind of cheating stuff that you’ll see,” Timko said.
The casino also keeps a 14-day loop of all table games, seven more than the state requires. The loop for slot machines is 30 days. Using the loops, operators review the action to catch someone cheating. That was the case when surveillance operator Bob Yannitto noted a customer following the same dealer wherever he went. With the help of another operator, Yannitto reviewed the film and spotted the dealer illegally giving the customer $100 in chips. Yannitto traced the pair’s movements on two weeks of loops and discovered they tried to cheat the casino out of $6,000.
Operators also help customers find lost purses, money and vouchers. In these cases, the cameras and technology will trace a customer’s movements throughout the casino. Sometimes the grateful customer will look up and mouth “thank you.” Yannitto said, “Any time I can do something positive while I’m doing my job, I get pleasure. I go home and feel good about it.”
Although the Meadows plans to replace all of its cameras with HD, Timko said no one “can watch every single game at once,” no matter how sharp or sophisticated the system is. Pit bosses, foremen, dealers and other employers are equally important as the “eyes in the sky,” he said. “It’s like everybody’s really watching everybody, really. That’s what it is. Everyone has a job to protect the assets of this casino. Surveillance is great. But if you really look at it, you’re the last line of defense.”
