What is Eye in the sky?

Historically, surveillance staff watched from catwalks above the floor through one-way mirrors. Today, hundreds or thousands of cameras feed a monitoring room, where staff watch for cheating, theft, advantage play, money laundering and disputes, and keep recordings as evidence.

Regulators usually set minimum requirements for camera coverage of tables, cages and count rooms, and for how long footage must be retained.

Surveillance often works separately from casino operations, so that it can monitor staff as well as customers. Surveillance teams increasingly use software that analyses table play and transactions, including facial recognition in some jurisdictions to detect self-excluded people or known cheats, which raises privacy questions. Footage is also used to resolve disputes over payouts and to investigate staff misconduct. The phrase has entered popular culture through films and television about casinos.