“The video surveillance system deployed at the Wyandotte Nation Casino features best in breed, proven Panasonic video surveillance technology.”

When the Wyandotte Nation Casino in Wyandotte, Oklahoma was in the planning stages of designing a security and surveillance system for their new casino, Scott Garrette, Director of Information Services at the Wyandotte Nation Casino, knew he wanted a system that would surpass the requirements of the State Gaming Commission. Garrette wanted a system that would provide the casino with heightened security and safety features. He wanted the cameras and dome systems throughout the interior and exterior of the facility to be visible to clientele to instill a sense of safety, and to deter possible criminal activity. He also wanted a system that would allow monitoring and control of the nearby Lucky Turtle Casino, the Wyandotte Nation’s first gaming facility, to eliminate equipment and staffing redundancies. Finally, Garrette wanted a system with proven technology that is feature rich and scalable for future expansion, and that delivers the highest quality and performance.

Garrette found the solution he was looking for in a Panasonic video surveillance and recording system designed and installed by SMC Electric Supply. “Overall, the Panasonic video surveillance solution provides us with system capabilities that are more dynamic and less labor intensive than other systems we evaluated,” said Garrette. “Specifically, Panasonic’s video surveillance system allows us to manage cameras, image processing, storage and retrieval in a more automated fashion which greatly improves the efficiency of our security and surveillance operations.”

The Wyandotte Nation Casino, owned and operated by the Wyandotte Tribal Corporation, officially opened for business in April of 2007. Located approximately 1,600 feet away from the Wyandotte Nation’s Lucky Turtle Casino, the new property offers 20,000 square feet of gaming space with 541 slot machines and electronic games, eight blackjack tables, three poker tables and a five table poker room.

Like many of today’s casino projects, the design and installation of the video surveillance and security system was on a very tight schedule. “I was handed the project by Dennis Pontiere, President & CEO of Wyandotte Tribal Corporation in August of 2006 and was instructed to get the project done. All we had at that time was the floor plan and some general ideas as to where the games would be located,” said Garrette. “SMC worked closely with Panasonic to develop a system design which we knew would have to be slightly modified on the fly as construction moved forward. For the most part, the design was on the money but we did change and add cameras in a few locations as a result of changes to the interior layout. Aside from that, the final system was very close to the original design.”

Not convinced that a networked IP system was right for the new casino because of potential bandwidth and control issues, SMC and Garrette agreed early on to pursue a hybrid system solution. SMC came back to the Wyandotte Nation Casino’s management staff with a system solution built on Panasonic analog cameras, digital video recorders, plasma displays, system controllers and a matrix switcher. “The video surveillance system deployed at the Wyandotte Nation Casino features best in breed, proven Panasonic video surveillance technology,” said Richard Rojas, Data Communications Specialist, SMC. “When we presented the final designs, everyone involved in the project had complete confidence that the system would work – no problem.”

A variety of Panasonic camera systems were selected for the Wyandotte Nation Casino based on image quality and coverage capabilities, including Panasonic’s WV-CW964 weatherproof outdoor dome system with Super Dynamic III (SDIII) imaging technology, WV-CS954 SDIII unitized indoor camera with 30X zoom, WV-CW484S and WV-CW474AS SDIII vandal-proof dome cameras and the WV-CF244EX and WV-CF284 DSP mini dome cameras with adaptive black stretch (ABS) technology. According to Garrette, camera selections were heavily influenced by Panasonic’s Super Dynamic III (SDIII) technology and (Digital Signal Processing) ABS technology.

Panasonic SDIII cameras automatically adjust to various lighting conditions within a single scene allowing the security staff at the Wyandotte Nation Casino to follow individuals throughout the facility without any loss of image quality.

“SDIII is really the only imaging technology available that provides all the capabilities we need,” he said. “The biggest advantage of SDIII cameras is how they adjust to various lighting conditions within a single scene without the loss of image quality. This is really important in a casino with so many light levels because it allows us to use the SDIII PTZ dome systems to follow individuals throughout the facility without any loss of image quality. We also really like that our SDIII dome systems can perform tracking functions and can be programmed and adjusted through the controller without having to physically adjust the units. No other cameras that we looked at provided the total package of performance and features that we wanted.”

“The image quality from our Panasonic SDIII cameras is as good as mega pixel cameras at a fraction of the cost. The images are so detailed from the SDIII dome systems that we can clearly identify chips on the tables. The Panasonic mini dome fixed cameras we installed in perimeter areas provide continuous coverage of specific areas on the gaming floor and if there’s an incident we just zoom in with the SDIII dome systems to take a closer look. It’s a real benefit of the technology.” continued Garrette. “Using Panasonic SDIII cameras, we were able to design a very cost efficient system because of their incredible zoom capability and resolution.

With over 235 cameras, it’s virtually impossible to walk across the surrounding grounds or interior of the Wyandotte Nation Casino without being in clear view of the Panasonic video surveillance system. With cameras positioned along the roads leading into the casino, the facility’s parking areas, the walkways leading to and from the nearby Lucky Turtle Casino, as well as all the public areas inside the facility, Garrette and his staff maintain close watch over all activities. Images from the cameras are controlled and routed using Panasonic’s powerful Matrix System 850 and recorded on a bank of 40 Panasonic WJ-RT208 DVRs. Panasonic’s Matrix System 850 was specified for the installation because of its scalable input and output capacities, its highly programmable feature rich functions and extensive programmable camera tour capabilities. To simplify use of the Matrix System 850’s sophisticated features and ability to manage cameras potentially numbering in the thousands, SMC supplemented the system with Panasonic’s PFW850 management and control software. The software employs a user-intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) with dynamic icons to simplify control and speed response times to triggered events. These capabilities were critical to casino management because of the lessons learned at the Lucky Turtle Casino, where the previous matrix switcher was incapable of expansion and had limited programmable functions.

	Images from the 235 Panasonic video surveillance cameras installed throughout and outside the Wyandotte Nation Casino are controlled and routed using Panasonic’s powerful Matrix System 850 and recorded on a bank of 40 Panasonic WJ-RT208 DVRs.

To further supplement ease of operation while assuring full functionality, system cameras, pre-programmed matrix switching functions and DVR functions can be controlled with Panasonic’s WV-CU650 System Controller. Pan, tilt and zoom functions are easily performed via the controller’s joy stick while matrix control functions are accessible through an array of user defined buttons. The unit also features a jog dial and shuttle ring to provide quick control of every search operation and system setting with one-touch access to record, play and search functions. After the video surveillance system at the new casino was up and running, SMC tied the cameras from the adjacent Lucky Turtle Casino into the Panasonic Matrix System 850 using a fiber optic backbone to carry video signals and bi-directional data without signal degradation over the long run between facilities. This configuration has proven to be highly cost-efficient by eliminating redundant staffing costs and allowing management to monitor and operate a more cohesive system. As Garrette explains, a soft benefit has also been realized with the implementation of an organizational policy wherein the surveillance team and the physical security team work more closely together. “It’s a team effort. For instance, if surveillance sees something in the parking lot – a fender bender or an argument – they’ll notify security to go and check it out. Similarly, if one of our parking attendants sees an incident in the parking lot, they’ll advise security to check it out and notify surveillance. We have very good communication between the security officers and the surveillance operators,” said Garrette.

To aid efforts in reviewing and analyzing incidents, the video surveillance system at Wyandotte Nation Casino records all camera footage at a full 30 frames per second on Panasonic WJ-RT208 DVRs, each featuring three terabytes of on-board memory capacity.

In addition to the central command and control room, the Panasonic video surveillance system can be monitored and controlled from satellite locations, including the Oklahoma Gaming Commission who has a representative on-site. Although not currently utilized, capabilities have been built into the system to allow remote monitoring via the Internet and to eventually integrate the video surveillance system with the casino’s access control system. Garrette and SMC’s Rojas are quick to point out that although the casino is located in Oklahoma and not Las Vegas or Atlantic City, they are still subject to the same criminal elements that plague any gaming operation. To aid efforts in reviewing and analyzing incidents, the casino records all camera footage at a full 30 frames per second on Panasonic WJ-RT208 DVRs, each featuring three terabytes of on-board memory capacity. “We wanted the best recorded image quality possible so we went with everything live and in real time,” said Garrette. “We also exceed the standard for archiving the footage by keeping it for 21 days. This solution resolves the problems we had before with video tape where it was difficult to find a particular recorded incident. With Panasonic DVRs, the incidents are very easy to locate, organize, file and retrieve. Rojas says he recommended the Panasonic DVRs because of their storage capacity and scalability for future system expansion. “The storage capacity was the biggest deal and it was easy to add the expanded memory,” he said. “Also, the RT208 uses MPEG-4 which is a better compression technology with superior image resolution and color accuracy.”