Murphy’s Law
Murphy’s Law
By Jim Goding
There is a “law” of the universe, known as “Murphy’s Law,” which is especially important to us in Surveillance. This law is very simple: Anything that can go wrong, will. In a Surveillance Room, there are many applications. If your MegaBucks camera dies and you don’t know about it or don’t report it to Slots Department, someone will hit that jackpot or attempt to cheat it on your shift. If your Craps game is not recording, for whatever reason, someone will steal chips from a player’s rack. Or a player will past-post the game. If your wheel layout camera is out of focus, the dealer will mis-mark a number when there are six players, all of them placing multiple bets all over the layout. If you have used the camera for another game, someone past-posts. If a recorder goes haywire, resulting in multiple cage cameras not recording, a customer will question a cash-out on the window that is most affected. There is no explanation for this phenomenon. It just happens. The only thing you can do about it is to do your job and don’t miss the details. Make sure the cameras are trained and focused on the tables and areas you think they are. Check your recording equipment frequently to ensure it is in fact recording. Never waste monitor time on closed games or inactive areas when games are open. Keep as many games recording as you possibly can, and be sure that everything that should be covered on a game, is. Report difficulties when required so they can be fixed. If you don’t do these things, they will come back and bite you.
