Casinos - entrusted with vast sums of customers` money, and dealing in massive payouts and money transfers - are becoming increasingly dependent on information technology (IT) to manage, monitor and analyse data flows and gaming activity.
With this in mind, Century Casinos has appointed CCI Technology Holdings - an IT convergence specialist - as an IT network and cabling supplier in its new R105-million casino in Caledon in the Western Cape.
CCI`s chief operating officer, Paul Riley, says IT is an important enabler of casino businesses as it expedites the flow of data as well as its collection, sharing and tracking. "This helps the processes of operating the business and those of marketing and accounting," he says.
Riley says CCI will design and install the networking and cabling equipment tying the various parts of the total IT solution together, and will also project manage the installation of equipment in the key areas where IT is essential to casinos.
James Forbes, director of Century Casinos, outlines a general IT solution as it relates to casinos: "Casinos generally need CCTV systems (provided in this case by a different supplier), which must be integrated into the enveloping IT system. Furthermore there is a central IT system, consisting of servers and such, and finally players are issued with magnetic swipe cards, which facilitates tracking of their activities. CCI has been contracted to design, supply and install the networking and cabling equipment that ties it all together."
Specifically, CCI will network the CCTV system with the main information system, enable computerised control of the operation of cameras, computerise the triggering of alarms, link and monitor gaming devices and enable the re-alignment of cameras at times of security breach. Discussing the general IT system, Forbes says: "The necessity for CCTV systems arises when sensitive transactions such as fund transfers, asset exchange or asset storage are taking place, to monitor gaming activity, or to investigate situations in the casino when the need arises."
Forbes says another aspect of a casino`s normal IT environment is the central IT system, which consists of servers, proprietary communications hardware between servers and a proprietary software system which collects gaming data from devices and enables online players` and maintenance reports. Finally, casinos generally issue players with magnetic swipe cards, which hold player`s data and facilitates tracking of their activities (to enable payout of benefits and the running of promotions).
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