A One-of-a-Kind Surveillance Station for the World Series of Poker

June 22, 2006
Custom station designed to provide extra security and monitoring for 6-week poker tourney

With poker's move from being a late-night pursuit in smoke-filled rooms to one that garners national attention and is likely being featured on your television right at this second, the game is in its prime. And being a gambling there a lot at stake, from reputations (cheating?) to big money (stealing?).

The 2006 World Series of Poker promises to continue this activity's appeal, with its sessions starting on Sunday at the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and continuing into mid-August. Last year the competition saw over 6,000 competitors and prize money of $8 million.

Needless to say, security is a bit of a concern.

Certainly it is for Tom Flynn, the vice president of surveillance for Harrah's in the Las Vegas area (Harrah's owns the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino). To protect his investment (casinos spring a lot of money for the World Series of Poker, and the stakes are high to gain a return on that event), Flynn has specified a new video surveillance monitoring station.

According to Flynn, the casino ownership and management company need a specialized surveillance monitoring console to adapt to the intense coverage and high-pedestrian traffic that the month-and-a-half long World Series of Poker would bring.

That contract landed in the hands of North American Video, which mixed Honeywell's video surveillance systems components with LCD displays from North American Video's own product line.

NAV worked to create a custom solution with screens that would clearly reproduce the action that the cameras were capturing, and now that the surveillance station is finished, Flynn says he's getting the high clarity his staff needs.