High-tech surveillance at Gold Country Casino

Mar 1, 2006 12:00 PM, Erin Semple

To ensure a safe and entertaining experience for its patrons, Gold Country Casino and Hotel, Oroville, Calif., uses 620 video cameras to view the casino, floor, retail shops, hotel and outdoor areas.

“The overall value of what is being protected is $50 million-plus,” says Kirby Brown, surveillance director. “We have 87 deluxe rooms, 14 table games, 900 slot machines, a poker room, bingo, a steakhouse, a full buffet, 24-hour café, espresso bar, a piano bar and ‘Spirits’ Lounge bar, gift shop and a newly remodeled 1,200-seat show room, as well as about 400 employees.”

A new video surveillance system was installed in December. It includes 120 Pelco Spectrum III PTZ and pan/tilt/zoom video cameras and 500 Ganz ZC-D3210 four-times vari-focal dome cameras from Computar, Commack, N.Y. The system was installed by Surveillance Systems Integration, Rocklin, Calif.

The cameras connect to the Pelco CM9780 Video Matrix System with two matrix bays, Spectra III pan/tilt/zoom integrated dome systems, 32 Pelco monitors and CM9760-KBD keyboard controllers. “The system reduces liability, loss through employee theft, cheaters and ensures a secure environment for the patrons and employees,” says Todd Flowers, president of sales and management of Surveillance Systems Integration.

The matrix system is located in a observation room, which has multiple observers on duty at all times. Communication by radios and telephones connect the surveillance room to the staff. The cameras record at all times. The matrix system records video and uses a distribution amplifier to send the video to the matrix bays, which allow the observer to call any camera from any monitor. The amplifier is also connected to VCRs, which tape the analog video onto an eight-hour tape, which is stored for around seven days. The VCRs also have the ability to insert a time and date stamp on video. Video is also displayed on the monitor, and the system uses unshielded twisted pair instead of coaxial cable because of cable densities and wire management, which Flowers says helped to manage video signals.

“This system was chosen due to satisfaction in features and capabilities, quality of product,” says Troy Jensen, senior product manager of Surveillance Systems Integration. Jensen and Flowers recommended the system to Gold Country Casino.

Jensen says the casino plans to go digital later this year.

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Computar	33
Pelco	34
Surveillance Systems Int.	35

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