[Editor’s Note: There’s been much speculation about what gambling will be like when the casinos reopen on June 4. One debate revolves around opportunities, or lack thereof, for advantage players, given the new rules of casino admittance and play. This guest post sheds some light on the argument from the casino’s side. “The Rat” is a current surveillance employee at a major Strip casino.]
On June 4, 2020, at 12:01 a.m., or relatively soon after that, Las Vegas Strip casinos will reopen to not only the high demand of energetic patrons, but also to their various employees. Most of the returning employees have been furloughed for almost three months. This discussion focuses primarily on surveillance employees—referred to as the “eye in the sky”—who play a highly specialized, technical, and time-sensitive role, which is to monitor and evaluate the activities in the casino.
The surveillance teams watch for advantage play, theft, and misappropriation of assets. They’re also in the unenviable position of being assigned necessary legal tasks and responsibilities. On top of that, on March 10, 2020, the Nevada Gaming Control Board informed licensee’s that they would be expected to use their existing surveillance systems to monitor and track occupancy levels in the casino and social-distancing protocols. Furthermore, the licensee’s existing surveillance systems will be used in contact tracing.
The additional demands of surveillance employees will create unique opportunities for advantage players. APs often seek favorable conditions to leverage and exploit weaknesses in table-game protection, and the casinos will be in a vulnerable position relative to this threat, given that the priorities of their surveillance rooms will shift from game protection to mandated reporting and highly structured audits of policies and procedures related to health and safety issues.
A highly respected surveillance supervisor at a premier Las Vegas Strip property (who requested being identified as “DB”) believes that casino surveillance rooms are not adequately prepared for this additional duty. On top of the burden of the “unreasonable added demands,” there’s the real problem of apathetic personnel. For starters, warned DB, “Most of the employees will be returning just a few days before opening and will be more interested in catching up with co-workers and discussing what has occurred in the last few months than concentrating on surveillance.” More concerning is the state that surveillance employees will be in after such an extended break. “Firstly, the employees haven’t been present in the room for the last several months and there have been significant operational and configurational changes in the casino. They’ll return with a diminished skill set, along with resentment for having to return to work after receiving more from unemployment insurance while being in a safe secure environment at home.”
What’s more, it will be difficult for the returning employees on the surveillance team to accept the added responsibilities. The employees will be required to go through training on “health and safety, occupancy-level procedures, thermal scans, social-distancing policies, contact tracing, and related risk-management training” before being allowed to return. Accordingly, their attitude, lack of commitment, and resentment will ultimately affect the entire performance of the surveillance room.
In the meantime, the protection of the casino’s assets will be vulnerable—most notably table games and even the cages, which often contain several million dollars in cash. The surveillance employees will focus their attention and the cameras on other required activities instead of the casino tables, which will be open and available for the APs to exploit.
DB predicted that Aps will “thrive at the casino tables,” because the identification of known APs will be difficult, due to the casinos encouraging all patrons (and requiring all employees) to wear face masks, which complicates the ability of surveillance to identify an AP positively. “It provides a further level of camouflage for the AP at the tables,” DB warned.
“The facial-recognition cameras will also be negated, rendering the room essentially powerless to identify an AP by sight. Surveillance will have to rely strictly on breakdown evaluations, which are time-intensive and complicated, giving a further edge to the AP. I’m prepared to accept that our core responsibility of table-game protection might be compromised during this period when our room will be performing a completely different role for the casino.”
Yes, there will be a higher emphasis on the health and safety of the patrons and employees, but this emphasis will come at the cost of less safeguarding of the casino’s assets. APs might be able to play a more aggressive game without as much scrutiny until normal gaming operations resume, absent the hindrance of the additional tasks placed upon surveillance.
One AP said, “It will be a fabulous time to play blackjack on the Strip without being sweated, while the pit critters and eye are preoccupied with health concerns and other restrictive duties.”
Surveillance will be in a reactive stance for the foreseeable future burdened by unmotivated employees, training, and additional requirements. The capabilities of the eye in the sky have been compromised, leading to a profitable time for APs.