CheetEye.com

How to master the “Always On” casino

Graeme — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:07:42 +0000

I received some surprising feedback from a client regarding our latest brochure which caused me to reflect on our roots and do a bit of research. Our client was surprised to read that there was little mention of the collaborative features of CHEETEYE, which he felt was a strong point of the software. Collaboration is part of the DNA of CHEETEYE and collaboration tools we’re available from the first version 7 years ago. As a result we’ve become so familiar with this powerful ability of CHEETEYE and tend to focus on the latest innovative tools that have become available. However, after reading some analyst forecasts, “Customers will begin to understand and clamor for technologies that cause actual social interactions in their organizations”. One of our major releases last year was titled “SurveillanceBook” because of its social/collaborative nature, so I’m hugely excited to know that we will be able to meet the needs of those “clamoring for this technology”.

After doing some research and talking to users of our collaboration tools, I found that the top 2 reasons for the need of collaboration software in the casino industry are:

1. Accountability – Operational hours of casinos are not the same as traditional business. Keeping a handle on compliance becomes difficult when an operation is “always on”. Hence the need for smart software that helps compliance and surveillance collaborate by using work flow processes to hold departments accountable when standard operating procedures (Casino SOP) are broken.
2. Performance management – The workplace is one of the most feedback-deprived places in modern life and casinos need to be especially aware of this. Lack of feedback in casinos results in policies and procedures not being strictly followed, which leaves them unprotected from the damaging effects of negligence and fraud both by external sources and an organization’s own staff. Effective performance management requires collaboration. According to “HRExaminer: Looking Ahead: 2012 Forecasts”, traditional performance management software based on annual and quarterly reviews, “miss the whole rhythm of the business.” They expect to see systems that allow instantaneous evaluation and they expect to see case studies that demonstrate the power of “always on” performance evaluation. Below is a screen shot from CHEETEYE’s “always on” performance management” module.

Make sure you have Casino SOP tools in place to master your “always on” environment so that you don’t feel like the drained energizer bunny at the end of the year. Have a great 2012!

Smart Surveillance: Learning from Steve Jobs

Graeme — Sun, 06 Nov 2011 18:29:09 +0000

Steve Jobs was a great designer. From the Macintosh to the iPad, the products he designed have provided users around the world with a much needed improved technology experience. Design is about solving problems and as we continue our smart surveillance series, it’s time to look at the role of “Information Designer”. From information overload and saturation to break down in trust and skepticism, casinos need information designers to solve the numerous information problems we have at casinos.

How do I become an information designer? Start with what you have and most people have excel, which is a useful information design tool. Get to know excel well by purchasing an easy to read book like “Excel for dummies”. Getting your data into an electronic tool is absolutely essential. Once you have your data in an electronic tool like excel, you can begin to visualize your data. When you visualize information, you start to be able to see the patterns and connections that matter. It allows your readers to focus on what really matters and you provide a solution to this sense of information overload and data glut that we’re all suffering from. Take the following example; a spread sheet of armed forces and defense budgets (courtesy of Information is beautiful) :

At first glance, you might be drawn to the huge US defense budget and formulate the following view in your mind:

Or, you might dig deeper and form more interesting connections with the data. The diagram above can easily depict the US as an aggressive, war-mongering military machine. However, it doesn’t seem fair to not factor in the wealth of a country when assessing its military budget. When you take military budgets as a proportion of each country’s GDP, a very different picture emerges.

The US is suddenly knocked down into 8th place by such nations as Jordan, Burundi and Georgia. Why are these other nations spending so much on their military? Time to dig deeper …

CheetEye information design tools provide users with the ability to extract useful casino data into tools like excel and our own propriety tools, so that users can enter the world of information design. Information designers are in hot demand as they are the problem solvers. Take some small steps and start designing. You could become the most valuable asset at your casino!

Thanks for designing great products Steve Jobs. You’ve left a design legacy!

Bird of the air takes Trigger roaming

Graeme — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:09:56 +0000

CheetEye takes to the skies today bringing “Trigger” to 5 States in the USA. Starting out in California, the home of smart technology, casino professionals will come face to face with technology that’s casting a wide net of casino protection …

Doing dataveillance

Graeme — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:36:51 +0000

Traditionally, casinos have been protected by surveillance systems which use cameras to watch activities taking place on a property. However, due to the ever increasing use of electronic systems to control casino processes, there are a lot of fraudulent activities taking place that cannot be seen with the eye. The fraud is taking place at the data level and hence, the surveillance industry has coined the term “dataveillance”. “Dataveillance” is the ability to:

Collect data from disparate systems
Provide a secure, user friendly interface to access the data
Alert management to irregularities based on a set of rules
Provide a wide range of reports and reporting tools

As a beach running addict, I’ll complete this blog from the beach:

Smart Surveillance: Tracking Big Winners

Graeme — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 14:14:06 +0000

Some organizations are now mandating investigation after a player wins a certain amount. Senior management like to know that surveillance is aware and have investigated large casino losses. The problem is surveillance usually don’t get the info until the player is on a plane and on the way home. Another problem is that during a players trip, info can easily get lost in the system.

Relying on the floor to keep surveillance informed can be disastrous. Tracking threshold transactions should not be left to human power but computer power. I’m always amazed at the intelligence of social media software to connect me with the right people. The smart software is merely using the “multi-tasking” power of the computer.

Below is an example of a configuration screen in CheetEye to get electronic threshold transaction alerts. Simple but effective!

Stay smart

Smart Surveillance: The New Mousetrap

Graeme — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:00:57 +0000

Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. That’s kind of where we are today with casino protection. Table games have increased and placed an ever increasing pressure on surveillance observers. It’s time to break that mold and build a better mousetrap. True Innovation.

Last week we had the privilege of interviewing Willy Allison (President, World Game Protection) and Ron Buono (Executive Director Surveillance, MGM Grand) regarding a concept called “Surveillance Triggers”. “Surveillance Triggers” are software tools that interface with any casino table game player rating/marketing system and constantly “scan” the system for potential irregularities. An alert system is in place that notifies management when players get into the “red zone”.

Types of triggers include:

Being alerted to wins outside of 3 standard deviations for a players trip
Did a players average wager increase since past trips?
Are the majority of the players rating being conducted by the same floor supervisor?
Comparing play to other ratings which were occurring on the same game, same time
Average bet on winning plays vs average bets on losing plays
Comparing maximum bet to credit limit
When a player has exceeded a (user defined) win threshold for a trip

(We will elaborate on each trigger as the “smart surveillance” series continues)

Willy’s top 3 triggers:

When a player has exceeded a (user defined) win threshold for a trip
Are the majority of the players rating being conducted by the same floor supervisor?
Being alerted to wins outside of 3 standard deviations for a players trip

Ron’s top 3 triggers:

Being alerted to wins outside of 3 standard deviations for a players trip
Did a players average wager increase since past trips?
Comparing play to other ratings which were occurring on the same game, same time

What would your top 3 triggers be?

Smart Surveillance: Iain Sinclair Interview

Graeme — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 15:14:46 +0000

Our smart surveillance series starts next week with an interview we’ve managed to track down. Author Iain Sinclair discusses his views on the “post-surveillance age”, amongst other things. A quote from the interview: “We are now living in a post-surveillance age with no obvious CCTV cameras. This is the age of intelligent buildings …”.

UPDATE:

The quality of the recorded interview was not good. However, we will be interviewing Iain in November regarding his “post-surveillance” views. Webinar dates and details will be posted soon!

City of Surveillance Cracks

Graeme — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 10:54:57 +0000

After the London riots, the UK surveillance society must be questioning the effectiveness of surveillance systems in London, often known as the “City of Surveillance”. Author Iain Sinclair describes London as a ‘ring-fenced ghetto, city of surveillance, privately policed estate.’ However, Ross Anderson of Cambridge university in response to the recent London riots states in the Economist, “If you want the surveillance society to become a reality, you’re going to have to increase budgets by an order of magnitude.”

Maybe it’s time to turn to the “casino surveillance society” for answers? Is throwing more money at traditional surveillance the answer or is it not time to become smart as Theron Thompson from the Scarlet Raven Group advocates in his article, “Surveillance Technology: Moving from the Catwalk to Smart Technology”. Casinos around the world are using smart software to direct their daily surveillance activities instead of aimlessly scanning. The casino surveillance society are solving real problems; there’s no need for them to “become a reality”.

I’ll be writing a series of posts titled “Smart Surveillance” which will include tips, case studies and interviews on using smart software to direct surveillance activities. If you have any requests or questions which you would like answered during this series, please email me at “Smart Surveillance”.

Be smart city of London!

Coyote Valley Casino Protects with Insight

Graeme — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 20:03:30 +0000

Bill Zender made the following comment on our previous blog site regarding casino game protection: “A casino collusion report will be a huge help for casino and surveillance executives investigating suspicious table play. At this present time I’m involved with a situation regarding excessive wins in baccarat. It would be extremely helpful if I had the customer/table/dealer/supervisor information available at my fingertips. Being able to run a quick correlation between the customer and floor supervisor would greatly speed up my elimination process, and allow me more time to conduct surveillance reviews.”

Coyote Valley Casino in California have recently acquired CheetEye and have access to just the kind of information Zender mentions above. Trey Henson, Compliance & Risk Manager at Coyote Valley had the following to say about the collusion report in CheetEye: “This is the best casino game protection software I know about. You guys should give yourself pat on the back. Well done!”

For a live demo of our casino collusion tools, send us an email at info@cheeteye.com with “Casino Game Protection” as your subject.

Keep protecting with insight Coyote Valley!

CheetEye Killing Spree

Graeme — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 18:33:54 +0000

A casino collusion killing spree is about to take place in some casinos with the introduction of the latest version of CheetEye. Below are some comments from people involved in beta testing the new version:

“The casino collusion feature is very useful, in fact it’s huge. It will add another dimension to Casino Surveillance” – Werner Kearns, Surveillance Manager, Dragonara Casino, Malta.

“If I was a casino manager, I would be very excited for the casino collusion analysis feature” – Danie Kritzinger, CheetEye Software Engineer.

“You guys are doing a fabulous job!” Tremayne Henson, Compliance & Risk Regulator Manager, Coyote Valley Casino, California.

Update from CheetEye founder, Graeme Powell: