The historic Golden Gate Hotel & Casino has chosen IndigoVision’s HD IP video technology for a surveillance upgrade, in what is believed to be the first ever casino to install a complete HD gaming floor. Established in 1906, the casino is not located on ‘the strip’, but rather where Las Vegas originally began, on Fremont Street, well known for the ‘Fremont Street Experience’, which is right outside the more than 100-year-old casino’s door.
The historic Golden Gate Hotel & Casino has chosen IndigoVision's HD IP video technology for a surveillance upgrade, in what is believed to be the first ever casino to install a complete HD gaming floor. Established in 1906, the casino is not located on ‘the strip', but rather where Las Vegas originally began, on Fremont Street, well known for the ‘Fremont Street Experience', which is right outside the more than 100-year-old casino's door.
“The clarity and detail that the HD cameras will deliver will transform our surveillance operation,” said Greg Stevens, Golden Gate's Co-Owner. “However, one of the main reasons we chose IndigoVision's solution is the ability to deliver 30 fps, 720p high-quality HD video with a guarantee of no lost frames under any circumstances, including low-light conditions, typical on casino floors. The use of HD cameras in covert locations for crisp face shots will enhance the use of facial-recognition software and make it much more viable to thwart known cheats.”
The 99-camera system will replace the existing analog/DVR equipment and be installed in full compliance with the local Gaming Board by IndigoVision's authorized partner and gaming specialist, Southwest Surveillance. As the Gaming Board mandates no-loss recording at 30 fps, IndigoVision's video guarantee means that the casino will not need to rely on secondary analog or standard definition cameras in parallel with the HD cameras for compliance.
The use of full frame rate HD surveillance cameras in a gaming environment is compelling. Operators will be able to recognize individual faces and distinguish between card suits and chip values. This will make it easier to identify potential cheats and to resolve disputes quickly, a benefit for both the customer and the casino.
“Another advantage of the system will be the ability to view live or recorded video remotely, not just on a workstation in another part of the casino, but anywhere in the world. This is a major benefit for me to be able to personally keep an eye on my casino operations all around the clock,” Stevens said. “The equipment footprint will be much less with a single HD camera replacing two analog cameras and with fewer racks required for the video recorders.”
Recording will be achieved using IndigoVision's NVRs. Each NVR will be configured with RAID 5 disks and redundant power supplies, creating a resilient and fault tolerant video storage solution. The NVRs will record all 99 camera streams from the network at full frame rate and provide a minimum 7-day archive for the gaming floor.
The casino will use real-time motion analytics to reduce the bandwidth and storage requirement from back-office cameras and to provide continuous remote monitoring of alleys, roof tops and other remote areas. Any motion detected will automatically alert the operators and display the video from the appropriate camera. Activity controlled frame rate is a feature that streams lower frame rate video when the camera scene is inactive. When any motion is detected the video is automatically transmitted at the maximum configured frame rate. This can reduce the amount of video that is transmitted across the network and stored on the NVRs.