Koray Ozyildirim, Country Manager, Türkiye and Jamie Barnfield, Senior Sales Director, IDIS Europe discuss why hotels and casino operators are among the front-runners when it comes to testing and deploying AI video tech.
Hotels, casinos and hospitality businesses are among the front-runners experimenting with the use of AI video surveillance tech.
Casinos are testing powerful solutions with the aim of reducing the impact of fraud at the most vulnerable points of transaction – including cashier stations and gaming tables – that are most often targeted by criminals, while also improving the guest experience.
Faster and more accurate investigation is key, says Koray Ozyildirim.
He is part of the team that has delivered an impressive number of major casino security projects over the last three years, including major hotel casino resorts in Cyprus, the Adriatic and Europe.
In Northern Cyprus and Southeast European countries, for example, new investment in the sector is being driven by the relaxation of gambling laws to boost tourism and where video innovations are being assessed by engineering teams and architects.
Suspected incidents
With a line-up of NVR recorders, feature rich and enterprise-class VMS and HD/UHD low profile cameras (including fisheyes, bullets domes and turrets) and having solved the problems of delivering comprehensive video coverage across casino floors – without high costs or impact on customer satisfaction – they are now working to make it easier for suspicious incidents to be reviewed and better understood.
IDIS is partnering with integrators and casino operators to test new ways of doing this.
The hope is that, if successful, the solutions being trialled could make a meaningful difference in shutting down fraudulent activity sooner, and in deterring future attempts.
“Our aim is to show more clearly what is happening, by understanding typical abnormal behaviours, so that investigators can detect and focus their attention on fraud more quickly,” Ozyildirim says.
One of the key methods being tested is the overlay of transaction data from money counting machines onto captured video streams.
Spotting discrepancies
High resolution, gap-free video is the essential foundation.
Systems have to cope with the sometimes smoky environments, subdued lighting and the fact that activity must never obscure chip and card denominations, cash exchange at tables or the rapid hand movements of dealers.
Added to that, these scenes can be crowded, often with players and table spectators in high spirits.
Having overcome these challenges, IDIS hopes that, with the overlay of transaction amounts, investigators will save time in spotting discrepancies, manipulation or collusion.
Casinos are also legally required to maintain surveillance over gaming tables to comply with regional and in-country gaming commission regulations, with the latest surveillance technology giving them the assurance of avoiding regulators’ scrutiny or fines.
“This is a critical function. If investigators can see at a glance that the recorded transaction amounts contradict the evidence of the video recordings, they’ll be able to work more efficiently.”
Not all discrepancies are fraudulent, and it’s important to be able to identify honest mistakes, software problems or other system glitches.
Dealers can also make mistakes, as they are human and video footage is widely used in training, helping staff to understand why and how they became distracted or helping to train new staff.
A skilled dealer is a valuable asset and as much as catching fraudsters, it’s hoped that the new approach from IDIS will help casino operators to protect bona fide staff and customers from wrongful accusations or unfounded suspicion.
If successful, it’s expected that this integrated solution will be rolled out rapidly by a number of additional casinos in the coming year.
More reliable performance
Innovating further, operators are also testing the potential for profit building strategies with video analytics including facial recognition, person match, people counting and heatmapping.
“We are testing many new features and benefits, not just instant alerts if black-listed customers attempt to enter casinos,” says Ozyildirim.
“The latest video analytics are also providing valuable business intelligence that supports management teams, remote or local, with better decision making.
“To give one example, with facial recognition, it’s now possible to identify when VIP customers arrive and to ensure that they get the best welcome from staff. Features like this can be used in real-time, to make operations more efficient, or in review, to analyse performance.”
As in other fields, video analytics will help to ensure that customer service – and wider business performance – is more reliable and consistent.
In the casinos market, operators need to do what they can to ensure the best guest experiences. This includes minimising risk of game stoppage by spotting and dealing with problems early, for example, by removing aggressive customers.
Boosting security and efficiency
In London, meanwhile, video analytics are increasingly being used to boost security and efficiency in the hospitality sector.
A number of major hotel security projects are being rolled out, says Jamie Barnfield: “We are seeing virtual trip-wires and line-cross analytics being used with real-time video monitoring to address problems with premises break-ins and unauthorised entry into restricted areas such as stairwells and back-of-house service facilities.
“Taking advantage of automated alerts, control room monitoring teams are helping busy hotel staff to stay on top of security while they are focusing on the main job of delivering customer service.”
Attempted theft
In one recent example, he says, criminals were caught attempting to break into a hotel using nearby scaffolding.
AI-powered line-crossing analytics offer a more effective, real-time warning than traditional detection technologies, which are susceptible to false alarms caused by environmental disturbances, such as heavy rain, animals like cats or birds.
Hotel operators are also collaborating with local police and business partnerships to improve the quality of surveillance coverage in the public areas surrounding their premises.
“Where there is a higher level of street crime or risk to vehicles, having access to the high-definition images captured by a PTZ with 350m IR coverage is very useful. The ability to zoom in and capture fine details gives police the evidence they need to secure prosecutions.”
It is, he points out, in the interests of hotels to prioritise the safety and security of their customers, including after they have stepped outside – and that means being able to provide police with redacted video evidence in the event of an incident and to do it quickly.
Technology such as IDIS’s new A-Cut is designed to help surveillance users overcome the challenge of locating crucial scenes, featuring objects or people of interest among vast amounts of video footage.
A-Cut automatically extracts the best representative image of any target object or person, crops the image and presents it in a way that makes it easy for operators to find.
By simply clicking on the cropped image, the operator is automatically taken to the precise moment in the recorded video stream when the object last appears.
Easy-to-use client software also allows authorised users, including those without specialist technical knowledge, to export forensic video evidence quickly when required.
Hotel operators know that a guest is unlikely to return or leave a positive review on travel websites if they become a victim of crime directly outside the hotel; effective video surveillance is a powerful deterrent that not only boosts safety but protects a hotel’s reputation and profitability.
Large scale solutions, major savings
The scale of these new hospitality video installations gives a good indication of how potentially valuable AI analytics are.
With so many video feeds to manage and monitor, there are major savings to be made in reducing workload on staff while increasing reliability and accuracy of risk detection.
“We are working with our integration partners and end-user customers to test and improve the way these solutions work. In the hotels sector, we are seeing some unique applications that have exciting potential for wider use,” adds Barnfield.
