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One of the biggest dangers to casino assets and liabilities to the casino is complacency among its employees. These employees are typically most insidious within the Surveillance and Security departments. As an employee, this is also where they can do the most damage to the business, its assets, reputation, and guests.

Within the Surveillance and Security departments, it is easy to fall into a repetitive daily routine without being alert and observant at all times during operations.

These typical functions include:

• Checking specific areas of the property
• Patrols
• Escorting fills to specific games
• Slots drops

These actions become so routine the employee begins to get to know those individuals they interact with, even the less desirable employees. This type of repetitive activity dulls the sense causing the employee to be less alert and less ready to spot wrongdoers. This also creates procedural sloppiness and tolerance of error.

For example, if an officer carries money at a predictable time on a predictable route that puts them in reach of criminals and the money is stolen, the officer is likely to be responsible for the theft. The insurance company could also be hesitant to cover any injuries the officer may incur. This is because that employee did not follow the procedure for transporting money which consists of using a pre-determined back-halls route.

From a corporate viewpoint, the company could be partially liable for the officer’s injuries if they had not been properly trained and corrected following the incident. For the same reason, corporate insurance could hesitate in paying most of the medical bills. As a society, the United States is considered complacent and vulnerable to sneak attacks and this is a perfect example.

However, since alertness and awareness are the jobs of a Security or Surveillance officer, there is no excuse for complacency. The job entails being responsible for the assets of the casino and the safety of its employees and patrons. Without these job functions, the balance would disappear and disorder would ensue.

Complacency is a serious issue in the security and surveillance world in the industry. Since they are hired to protect the company, its services, and its guests, the acquired routine can become the enemy. Any type of error by either department due to complacency can have catastrophic results for the business. This is one of the primary reasons Surveillance and Security Officers and staff are being constantly trained and retrained.

Casino surveillance must not only be vigilant for cheaters and scam artists that are visitors of the casino but also must watch for employee cheaters. In rare instances, these employees are working alone. In most cases, they are working with a guest or other employees to scam the casino. It is much more difficult to spot an employee than a guest. Casino staff that is commonly involved in these cheater situations are dealers, floor supervisors, and boxmen.

Luckily, there is a common behavior that can be spotted that tends to further reveal their actions and motives.
Dealers typically enact the following:

• Places hands in bankroll tray when not dealing
• Always looking at the floor supervisors
• Random violations of procedure
• Does not clean hands before touching the body

If the dealer has their hands in the bankroll tray, this may be an indication they are secretly skimming chips. Also, whenever a guest or employee is cheating, they will be constantly looking around for higher authorities. Additionally, when the dealer is consistently violating dealer procedure they become suspect for collusion. Furthermore, if the dealer does not clear the hands before touching their body, they could be taking chips.
There are also a few indicators for Floor Supervisors and Boxmen including:

• Rubbernecking
• Gambling heavily when not on the job
• Bad attitude
• Won’t talk to surveillance
• High standard of living for income

Rubbernecking or always scanning the floor to find the boss is a common indicator of some type of misbehavior. This way they can keep their eyes on the boss to ensure he is not watching. Also, those that gamble heavily when off duty tends to be more interested in cheating the system. Furthermore, a bad attitude and not talking to security departments such as surveillance can show an unwillingness to cooperate and a potential for theft.

One of the biggest indicators is an employee that lives significantly beyond their apparent income. In most cases, they are acquiring the extra income from some outside source. In many instances, it is a second job. However, if the employee is living well beyond their means it could be something else.

These signs help Surveillance personnel catch employees involved in some type of theft each day across the globe. Often a suspected employee’s personal life is reviewed to verify anything out of the ordinary. The bottom line is the Surveillance Department is trained to spot these individuals.

There are many methods of cheating at land-based casinos. As technology improves, the casino systems for spotting cheaters are upgraded but the method of cheating also becomes more complicated and difficult to spot. Signals between colluding players used to be a popular cheating method. However, that has been replaced by electronic devices and more advanced techniques.

There are many tells for which to spot different types of cheaters. This article is going to focus on some of the most common ways to spot a patron cheater. Keep in mind, none of the following are definite evidence of cheating, instead, they indicate something may be wrong. If a player is looking to cheat a slot game, they may exhibit the following motions:

• Rubbernecking
• Blocking the front of the machine
• Collecting a crowd around them
• Constantly looking at the cameras
• Leg jumping
• The indicator on the machine covered

Generally, when a player is cheating, they will become nervous and paranoid. As a result, they will rubberneck, look at the cameras often and have uncontrolled muscle spasms such as constant leg movements. Also, they will want to fix the machine or input counterfeit money in secrecy. Therefore, they will find every method in the book to block the cameras or the machine using innocent bystanders.
When a player is attempting to cheat at a table game, the following may be traits that are important to look for:

• Rubbernecking
• Name refusal/only provides name when losing
• Accessories to conceal the face
• Brings large amounts of checks
• Little play, large buy-in

At table games as well as slots, the cheater will be nervous and paranoid. Also, they will refuse to provide their name if winning since they do not want it on record. If losing, then they have no problem doing so since cheaters do not play to lose.

Furthermore, the perpetrator will wear sunglasses, hats, and other accessories to conceal their face. Additionally, they will bring a large number of checks and buy-in large with little play which indicates a potential for using counterfeit money.

As cheating methods evolve and become more advanced, casino surveillance and other observatory departments need to be more vigilant and constantly training. Modern technology plays a big role as well so it is important to be up-to-date with surveillance equipment. Despite these tools, human nature is human nature so when an individual is doing something wrong, they usually exhibit some type of indicator that should be caught.