Las Vegas Casino Surveillance Report Card 2005

Professional Players Rate the Las Vegas Casino Surveillance Departments

by the Blackjack Forum Online Moderators
© 2005 Blackjack Forum Online

[Editor’s note: The “inside” information in Las Vegas Casino Surveillance Report Card was compiled by The Vindicator and the Las Vegas Surveillance Mafia, a group of casino surveillance professionals. Other contributors to this report were full-time professional gamblers who have logged thousands of hours in Las Vegas casinos.

Players’ opinions of the game protection competence at any particular casino occasionally split along lines of their specialty or Griffin/C.V.I. status. One player said, “When it comes to spotting card counting, I think every place is too sharp.”

Disclaimer: All of the information in this chart was based on the observations and subjective opinions of individuals whose information may have been incomplete or inaccurate. Bear in mind that conditions within casino surveillance are constantly changing. As this report card was published in 2005, I’m posting this in the Blackjack History section as well as the Surveillance section. Some of the casinos reported on no longer exist and most have gone through many changes since 2005. Is it time to update? — Arnold Snyder]

The Professional Players’ Las Vegas Casino Surveillance Report Card

Griffin Agency	Facial Recog.	Computer Evaluation	Casino	C.V.I.	Overall Rating and Comments
Yes	Yes	Yes	Aladdin	Yes	Will recognize anyone in Griffin pretty fast, and they have clearly read some books.
Yes	No	No	Arizona Charlie’s	Yes	Sweaty rather than smart. Normal action is red to green and bigger action frightens them.
Yes	No	No	Arizona Charlie’s East	Yes	Not too smart, but if they’re letting you play an aggressive count game, it may be a situation you can’t beat. Quick to flyer low rollers.
Yes	Yes	No	Bally’s Las Vegas	Yes	Separate surveillance from Paris. Some sharp and sweaty floormen, pretty lousy surveillance.
No	No	Yes	Barbary Coast	No	Floor reacts to any bet spread. They certainly know what they know.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Bellagio	No	Nice dealers, great restaurants (at Picasso, try the $20 scallop with the potato chip stuck in it), but the dumbest floor person we’ve ever encountered was in their high-limit room. They do have some sharp floor, but there’s the usual percentage of people who could only be there because of juice. Surveillance seems studious and book-learned. They make full use of their Griffin subscription and all the latest equipment but are overly focused on wins. We’re not afraid to play there.
No	No	No	Boardwalk	No	No comments at this time.
No	No	No	Boulder Station	Yes	Floor is frightened, surveillance is helpless. Short sessions easy.
Yes	No	Yes	Caesars	Yes	They can’t distinguish between a hole-card play and a cheating play, we know that for sure. Not as sweaty as it was under the management from AC, but if they get to look at you long enough, they will eventually recognize you.
No	No	No	California	No	Some decent floor, poor surveillance.
Yes	No	No	Cannery	Yes	A good place to play.
No	No	No	Circus Circus	No	Lots of heat, but little fire.
NA	No	No	El Cortez	NA	Marginally better than Circus.
No	No	No	Excalibur	No	Surveillance is helpless, a few floor think they know something.
No	No	No	Fiesta Henderson	No	Paranoid, but helpless. Backing off players for winning.
No	No	No	Fiesta Rancho	No	Mistrusts money.
No	No	No	Fitzgerald’s	No	Have fun!
Yes	No	No	Flamingo LV	Yes	A grab bag. Some floor sweat wins, others have some perspective. They have caught a counter or two in the past. They have MindPlay tables, but they either don’t have the surveillance package or don’t know how to use it.
No	No	No	Four Queens	No	Marginal surveillance, sweaty floor.
			Fremont		Ha ha ha.
No	No	No	Frontier	No	Very mixed reviews.
No	No	No	Gold Coast	No	All the Coast foibles. Land of the paranoids!
No	No	No	Gold Spike	No	Do they have a surveillance department?
No	No	No	Golden Gate	No	A surprisingly pleasant place with a good diner. Thumbs up for Golden Gate.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Golden Nugget	Yes	We agree with Vin: Was once a force to reckon with.
No	No	No	Green Valley Ranch	Yes	This place has some talent on board, which is probably why they don’t sweat action. Recently featured in TV series; game protection is at its best when the television cameras are rolling.
No	Yes	Yes	Hard Rock	Yes	Surveillance has a checklist, and they think they know what they’re doing.
Yes	No	No	Harrah’s LV	No	Mixed reviews. They do use their Griffin subscription.
Yes	No	No	Horseshoe	No	Time to take another look.
No	No	No	Imperial Palace	No	They’re more likely to catch you walking through than actually playing. Some sweaty floor.
No	No	No	Klondike	No	Does anyone play here?
Yes	No	Yes	Lady Luck	No	Playable until you’ve let them record a few wins.
NA	No	No	Las Vegas Club	NA	Floor and surveillance are semi-sharp (El Cortez level).
Yes	No	Yes	LV Hilton	Yes	Player friendly.
No	No	No	Luxor	No	Helpless eye, frightened floor.
No	No	No	Main Street Station	No	Completely mixed reviews from players.
No	No	Yes	Mandalay Bay	No	They can’t watch everyone. They do pay attention to your win/loss record, and a series of wins will trigger a Survey Voice. Security is a bunch of Harry Callahans.
Yes	Yes	Yes	MGM	Yes	Pretty sharp, but big. Surveillance won’t see you without a call from the pit. They do run Survey Voice once your action hits around $500/hand (and will run it more than once), but anything under $1k looks small to them.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Mirage	No	Conscientious, but big. Stay away when not crowded.
No	No	No	Monte Carlo	Yes	Easier lately.
Yes	Yes	Yes	New York New York	Yes	Very mixed reviews from players. Worth another look.
No	No	No	Orleans	Yes	Coast owned. Some smart sweaty floor who know what they know. Surveillance is busy zooming in on girls.
No	No	No	Palace Station	No	Takes green action well. Used to be sharper. Always small minded: they never know what anyone’s doing, but if you’re betting black, you must be a pro.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Palms	Yes	Surveillance watches the high-limit double deck first. They do make use of their Griffin subscription sooner or later, including at CTR time. Day shift relies on sending down “Coach” to intimidate you.
Yes	No	No	Paris	No	Separate surveillance from Bally’s. Very mixed reviews from players. Some sharp floormen.
NA	No	No	Plaza	NA	Some floor sharp, some just sweaty. Okay surveillance.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Rio	No	Big.
No	No	No	Riviera	Yes	Marginally good surveillance. Old mean floor.
No	No	No	Sahara	Yes	Can’t find anyone who feels like playing here.
No	No	No	Sam’s Town	No	There’s a rumor they caught somebody once.
No	No	No	Santa Fe Station	No	Sharp surveillance on swing. Will recognize those in Biometrica.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Stardust	Yes	Reviews wins and will back off on return. Long memory for backoffs. Even some floor are well-informed. We have to say, one of the sharpest in town.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Stratosphere	Yes	What a waste of a spinning restaurant! All they know how to do is sweat action.
No	No	No	Suncoast	No	Coast group. A couple sharp floor who know what they know.
No	No	No	Sunset Station	No	Takes action well in high limit room.
No	No	No	Terrible’s	No	More paranoia than knowledge.
Yes	No	No	Texas Station	Yes	Can be sweaty. Some sharp dealers. We have heard of a guy who got tossed here.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Treasure Island	Yes	Careful and diligent.
No	No	Yes	Tropicana	Yes	More sweaty than knowledgeable.
No	No	No	Tuscany	No	A limited play. Not very knowledgeable, but some good memory on the floor. Paranoid of big action.
Yes	Yes	Yes	Venetian	No	Fancy but sweaty. They definitely pay attention to flyers. They want to know their big players, and prefer their mobster clientele. Wins scare them. Overall, more suspicious than actually knowledgeable or smart.
NA	No	No	Western	NA	Yes, we’ll go anywhere there’s money. Used to be a complete joke, now only a partial joke.
			Westin Casuarina		Anyone??? We do know that it’s possible to get bounced here.
No	No	No	Westward Ho	No	Ha ha ha.
No	No	No	Wild Wild West	No	Surveillance seems to understand its limitations, and will call Stations for big action. ♠