Casinos upgrade to HD IP video

One of the odd anachronisms of the video surveillance industry is that casinos in the US, one of the biggest customers and users of video surveillance, are also some of the biggest laggards when upgrading to IP video from analog systems. Part of the reason for this lies in the business itself. Casinos never close, making replacement not only burdensome but also requiring shutting down parts of the floor, resulting in lost revenue. In addition, the global recession that began in 2008 stalled existing IP video upgrades in their tracks.

Now, with the US economy recovering, migration to IP has been accelerating, according to Laurie Smock, vice president of sales of North American Video (NAV), in a SourceSecurity article. While HD IP video is typically more expensive than its analog counterpart, the benefits of using digital solutions have tended to have a better ROI, justifying the disruption and the pains inevitable in moving to new systems.

For the most part, despite casinos not wanting to budget for new tech, the benefits have outweighed the cost. For example, using IP video and automated alerts to take care of high-value casino customers, automated people counting, and crowd management have all been big reasons why casinos have been upgrading.

According to Maureen Bruen of Honeywell Security Products Americas, most casino customers are undergoing a phased approach to installing IP video in their casinos. They are typically focusing on high-priority areas such as table games, cash depositories, and choke points.