Month: December 2018

The term ‘eye in the sky’ was coined to describe casino surveillance in the early days of gambling houses in Las Vegas, Nevada. The original ‘eye in the sky’ was simply a space in the casino ceiling fitted with one-way, or half-silvered, glass through which surveillance operatives could covertly view the floor below for signs of suspicious activity. As the casino industry grew, the surveillance function was performed by small teams of operatives, armed with binoculars, who prowled security catwalks above the casino floor in search of dishonest employees or guests.

Nowadays, the term ‘eye in the sky’ refers to the hundreds of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras that provide a major security countermeasure in modern casinos. Sophisticated, high-definition CCTV cameras cover every square inch of the casino, including not only the tables in the casino pit, but also other sensitive areas, such as the soft count room, where banknotes are counted, or the casino cashier, or ‘cage’, where players cash in their chips.

The network of CCTV cameras dotted around the casino operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and, effectively, provides surveillance of every employee and guest. Modern surveillance operators tend to focus on one area of the casino at a time, but on the instruction of security personnel, or a pit boss, can switch to a specific camera at any time. Indeed, modern surveillance cameras typically use video analysis software, including facial recognition technology, to identify card counters and other ‘undesirable’ guests and generally protect the assets of the casino.

Every casino game, without exception, has an integral mathematical edge over the player. This edge, commonly known as the ‘house edge’, ensures that the casino will always win in the long-term and maintain an operating profit. That said, the house edge varies, quite widely, from one casino game to another and, fairly obviously, the games with the lowest house edge give the player the best chance of winning.

It is not without good reason that casinos, in Las Vegas and elsewhere, offer six-deck blackjack – that is, blackjack played with cards dealt from a multiple-deck shoe, containing 310 cards at the start of the shoe – as standard; six decks of cards increase the house edge by 0.42% against the basic blackjack strategy player when compared with a single deck of cards. Of course, the house edge for six-deck, or even eight-deck, blackjack still compares very favourably with that for other, less demanding games, such as keno or slots. However, if you can find a single-deck blackjack game with a suitable minimum bet, you can take advantage of a house edge of just 0.58%, or possibly lower, with basic playing strategy.

Similar comments apply to craps, insofar as the many rules of the game are off-putting to newcomers, with the added complication of a wide house edge spread. Some so-called ‘sucker’ bets, such as ‘Proposition 2 or 12’, ‘Proposition 3 or 11’ and ‘Any 7’ offer a house edge well into double-figures, percentage-wise, and should be avoided. At the other end of the scale, though, craps does offer some of the lowest house edge bets available, including pass/come at 1.41% and don’t pass/don’t come at 1.36%.