Find out how the team at Woodbine Entertainment Group improved security of their horse racing facilities and sped up evidence requests.
Founded in 1881 as the Ontario Jockey Club, Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) is the pioneer and largest operator of professional horse racing in Canada. Today, the company owns and operates Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Woodbine Mohawk Park in Campbellville, as the only legal pari-mutuel wagering website in Canada called HPIbet.com, and various off-track-betting locations across Ontario. Every year, Woodbine Entertainment’s properties welcome over seven million visitors who come to experience the rush of watching thoroughbred and standardbred horses racing while enjoying best-in-class dining and entertainment.
The challenge
The WEG security team works hard to ensure that people have a safe and memorable experience while upholding best practices across their horse racing operations. To get the job done, the team often relied on many different physical security technologies. But over time, they began noticing a lag in advancements from their video surveillance supplier. They were also managing video, access control, and other tasks from different monitors and applications, which slowed response and investigations. Knowing expansion plans were soon underway for a new leasehold casino and entertainment venue, the team was ready for an upgrade.
Products used: Genetec Security Center, Genetec Clearance, and Streamvault.
The solution
Unified incident response
“When the alarm pops up, we immediately see the video associated with the event. That takes a lot of burden off the operator. They can quickly see what’s happening and respond,” said Robin.
Intuitive security monitoring
Almost all cameras are plotted on a map of the facilities, making it simpler to pull up footage in seconds. The team has also customized their monitoring tile layouts to help oversee specific duties.
Efficient evidence management
Using Clearance, the team has expedited evidence sharing and enhanced productivity. They can easily package everything up into one case, securely share files, and keep evidence for as long as necessary.
Upgraded server infrastructure
WEG upgraded their servers with Genetec Streamvault. This gave them added redundancy, reliability, and on-demand support, and the ability to comfortably meet 60-day retention requirements.
Tina Soobramanie, Integrated Network and Security Specialist, Woodbine Entertainment Group said, “Security Center ticked all the boxes when it came to innovation, future growth, and everything we envisioned for our security operations. From more basic features such as tenant partitioning to full-scale cloud services and extensive integration capabilities, we had everything we needed to build a robust and progressive security deployment all within one unified platform.”
Results
Today, the WEG security team manages over 800 cameras across the Woodbine Toronto and Campbellville sites as well as existing access control and intrusion detection systems within Security Center. This gives them real-time visibility on all emerging events and alarms from one intuitive solution. The team also added Genetec Clearance, the digital evidence management system, which saves them time when fulfilling evidence requests for various stakeholders.
“At WEG, we aim to be a best-in-class racetrack and sports facilities across North America. We have a very technology-driven mindset and are always looking for innovative ways to solve problems. And Genetec is right there with us, coming up with new solutions. So, we’re not only excited about growing our deployment with Security Center, but we’re also glad we have a strong, supportive partnership with the Genetec team,” said Tina.
Product Adopted:Other