Andrew Eggington, finance director of Ipsotek, says, "Our new casino suite offers a unique ability for casino operators to pinpoint how and where they can increase profitability. The system collects activity and event information from the gaming tables, typically using existing CCTV cameras. The activities gathered include the frequency of roulette wheel spins and the speed a hand of cards is dealt as a function of bets taken. The information is then turned into data that can be used to trigger performance-related alarms as well as being stored in a central database, where if may subsequently be used for staff productivity management. This data is used to optimise activity levels and hence improve the casino average win percentage."

As well as providing real-time and historical management information, the Ipsotek Casino Suite provides a unique "drill down" feature. If, for example, the system has highlighted that a table was running below a desired level at a certain point in time, the video for this period can be instantly retrieved and viewed simply by clicking on the performance chart. The software suite is further supplied with preset standard reports such as:

Roulette Wheel frequency

- Current spin per hour across all open tables
- Actual spins, hour by hour, for all tables in a given session
- Identification of low activity periods for open tables
- Identification of times when upper or lower spin thresholds are breached

Card Table Productivity Management

- Current deal rate across all tables
- Current number of bets per hand at each table
- Total number of hands dealt in any specified time window
- Total number of bets made at each table in any specified time window

Ipsotek believes this to be the first time video analytics has been applied in the casino environment to improve profitability and additional enhancements are already in development to further refine the collated information.

Tony Birch, general manager of Grosvenor Casinos Gloucester Road Casino, Kensington, London, says "The Ipsotek Casino Suite enables us to build a detailed database of our gaming activities. This has allowed us to monitor our activity rates on a day to day basis to ensure they are maintained within optimum ranges and, where appropriate, take prompt remedial action when problems are detected."

Ipsotek will be demonstrating the solution live at their Stand Number 3464 at International Gaming Expo, which takes place at Earls Court in London January 27 - 29. IGE is open from 10.00-18.00 Tuesday and Wednesday and from 10.00-16.00 on Thursday.