Securing the Cash at Land Based Casinos

Securing the Cash at Land Based Casinos

Consider the number of tables and machines at your favourite land based casino. Now consider how busy that casino is and how many chips are exchanged on an hourly basis. Every casino chip or machine credit was once cold hard cash and that money has to be stored and kept safe on the casino property. Considering the thousands of dollars which need to be kept on hand in order to pay out lucky players, it become apparent why land based casino security is so important. So what exactly does keeping all this cash secure entail?

The Necessity of Casino Security

Casino security is not only absolutely imperative in order to secure the cash on the premises, but also the property, employees, and the players at the casino. Owing to the large amount of money that passes through a casino on a daily basis, the risk of inappropriate behaviour, theft, and crime are much higher than any other retail environment.

In the past casino security consisted of a few burly security guards with keen eyes and the ability to take down even if the wiliest of criminals, but thankfully times have changed significantly. As the industry became more profitable and more money was pumped into casino development, casino security technology became top-priority.

Which Casino Security Systems Are In Place?

While modern casinos still have a team of highly trained security personnel which offer a permanent presence on the casino floor, they are also assisted by state-of-the-art CCTV (Closed Circuit Television System) which acts as the ‘eye in the sky’. Considering what it takes to keep a casino secure, it becomes apparent why some prefer online baccarat at Casino Sites Canada instead!

While the casino floor security team are able to offer instant assistance when required, the CCTV is able to keen on eye on the more subtle attempts at casino deception and crime. A large casino such as the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will have over 2000 cameras connected to over 50 monitors which are scrutinised by a team of casino security experts at all hours of the day.

How Much Cash is Held On-Site?

There is no hard and fast rule for how much cash is kept on-site as it depends on the laws and regulations of the gambling jurisdiction in which the land based casino falls. For example, the Nevada Gaming Commission states that a casino must have enough cash on the premises to cover every casino chip in play on the casino floor, as you do not want to get into a situation where the casino does not have enough cash to pay a player out. As such, smaller casinos will most likely have upwards of $20 million in cash, while larger casinos could have over $100 million in cold hard cash. That’s a lot of green to keep safe!

How is the Cash Stored?

If you’ve even seen Ocean’s Eleven you will most likely have some idea as to how the money is stored at a land based casino: in massive, highly secure vaults. Chips are also considered currency in a casino and each chip is tracked so that they can be flagged in case they form part of a robbery to prevent them being used at the casino in the future.