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PENNSYLVANIA ADMINISTRATIVE CODE
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania Codes
TITLE 58. RECREATION
PART VII. GAMING CONTROL BOARD
SUBPART E. SLOT MACHINES AND ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT
CHAPTER 465A. ACCOUNTING AND INTERNAL CONTROLS
Date:
08/31/2009
Document:
§ 465a.9. Surveillance system; surveillance department control; surveillance department restrictions
(a) The surveillance system of a licensed facility must comply with 18 Pa.C.S. Chapter 57 (relating to Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Control Act) and section 1522 of the act (relating to interception of oral communications) and shall be submitted to and approved by the Board under § 465a.2 (relating to internal control systems and audit protocols). The Bureau will review surveillance system specifications, inclusive of the camera configuration and any changes or modifications to the system specifications, to determine whether the system provides the adequate and effective surveillance of activities inside and outside the licensed facility mandated by section 1207(11) of the act (relating to regulatory authority of board). A slot machine licensee may not commence gaming operations until its surveillance system is approved by the Board.
(b) A slot machine licensee shall at all times provide the Board and the Pennsylvania State Police with access to its surveillance system and its transmissions. Each member of its surveillance department shall comply with any request made by the Board or the Pennsylvania State Police to:
(1) Use, as necessary, any surveillance monitoring room in the licensed facility.
(2) Display on the monitors in the monitoring room any event capable of being monitored by the surveillance system.
(3) Make a video and, if applicable, audio recording of, and take a still photograph of, any event capable of being monitored by the surveillance system.
(i) The slot machine licensee shall preserve and store each recording or photograph in accordance with the directions of the Board or the Pennsylvania State Police.
(ii) The Board and the Pennsylvania State Police shall have unfettered access to each recording or photograph and, at the request of the Board or Pennsylvania State Police, access to a recording or photograph may be denied to a particular employee or department of the slot machine licensee.
(c) The surveillance system required in this section must include the following:
(1) Light sensitive cameras with lenses of sufficient magnification to allow the operator to read information on a slot machine reel strip and credit meter and equipped with 360 [deg] pan, tilt and zoom capabilities, without camera stops, to clandestinely monitor in detail and from various vantage points, including the following:
(i) The gaming conducted at the slot machines in the licensed facility.
(ii) The operations conducted at and in the cashiers' cage and any satellite cage.
(iii) The operations conducted at automated bill breaker machines, automated gaming voucher and coupon redemption machines, automated jackpot payout machines and automated teller machines.
(iv) The count processes conducted in the count room.
(v) The movement of cash and slot cash storage boxes within the licensed facility.
(vi) The entrances and exits to the licensed facility, the gaming floor and the count room.
(2) Video recording equipment which, at a minimum, must:
(i) Permit the preservation and viewing of a clear copy of the transmission produced by any camera connected to the surveillance system.
(ii) Be capable of superimposing the time and date of the transmission on each recording made by the video recording equipment.
(iii) Enable the operator to identify and locate, through the use of a meter, counter or other device or method, a particular event which was recorded.
(3) Recording media which shall be replaced immediately upon the manifestation of significant degradation in the quality of the images or sound, if applicable, recorded thereon. If videotape is utilized, it may be used for no more than 1 year.
(4) One or more monitoring rooms in the licensed facility which shall be staffed by employees of the slot machine licensee's surveillance department who shall at all times monitor the activities enumerated in paragraph (1). Each monitoring room shall be equipped with or serviced by:
(i) A communication system capable of monitoring all of the licensed facility's security department activities.
(ii) Computer terminals which provide read only access to any computerized slot monitoring system or casino management system, or both, used by the slot machine licensee in its gaming operation.
(iii) Connections to all casino alarm systems. The systems must provide a visible, audible or combination signal. A robbery, fire or emergency alarm must be perceptually distinguishable from all nonemergency alarms.
(iv) An updated photo library, consisting of photographs that are no more than 4 years old, of all current employees of the slot machine licensee and a separate photo library that contains the photographs of individuals who are on the Board's self-exclusion list. These photo libraries shall be available to the Board and the State Police.
(v) Contain and have readily available current copies of the following:
(A) An operational blueprint of the gaming floor and all areas of the licensed facility subject to camera coverage.
(B) Operating procedures addressing the evacuation of the licensed facility in the event of fire or other emergency.
(C) A contingency plan addressing a planned shutdown of the surveillance system and the contingency plan required by subsection (g) addressing any equipment failure that affects the slot machine licensee's monitoring room together with an emergency contact listing with telephone numbers for persons required to be notified of those events.
(5) An emergency power system, tested at intervals not to exceed 6 months, which can be used to operate the surveillance system in the event of a power failure.
(6) A preventive maintenance program, implemented by technicians assigned to the surveillance department, which insures that the entire surveillance system is maintained in proper working order and that the covers over the cameras are cleaned in accordance with a routine maintenance schedule.
(d) Areas subject to camera coverage under this section must contain continuous lighting that is of sufficient quality to produce clear video recordings and still picture reproductions.
(e) A slot machine licensee's surveillance system must continuously record, during the times and in the manner indicated in this subsection, transmissions from cameras used to observe the following locations, persons, activities or transactions:
(1) Each transaction conducted on the gaming floor or at a cashiers' cage or satelltie cage. Coverage of the transaction must include, but not be limited to, recording transmissions from cameras used to observe the face of each patron transacting business at a cashiers' cage or satellite cage from the direction of the cashier.
(2) The main bank, vault and other areas specified in writing by the Board.
(3) The collection of slot cash storage boxes.
(4) The count procedures conducted in the count room.
(5) Any armored car collection or delivery.
(6) The operations conducted at automated bill breaker machines, automated gaming voucher and coupon redemption machines, automated jackpot payout machines and automated teller machines.
(7) The entrances and exits to the licensed facility, the gaming floor, the main bank, the vault, the cashiers' cage and any satellite cages and the count room.
(8) The gaming conducted at slot machines.
(f) Slot machine licensees shall maintain a surveillance log of all surveillance activities in the monitoring room. The log shall be maintained by monitoring room personnel in a book with bound numbered pages that cannot be readily removed or shall be maintained in an electronic format which has an audit function that prevents modification of information after the information has been entered into the system. The log shall be stored and retained in accordance with § 465a.6 (relating to retention, storage and destruction of books, records and documents). The following information shall be recorded in a surveillance log:
(1) The date and time each surveillance event commenced.
(2) The name and Board issued credential number of each person who initiates, performs or supervises the surveillance.
(3) When suspicious activity, suspected or alleged regulatory violations or suspected or alleged criminal activity is involved, the reason for the surveillance, including the name, if known, alias or description of each individual being monitored, and a brief description of the activity in which the person being monitoring is engaged. This entry should also include a notation of the reading on the meter, counter or device specified in subsection (c)(2)(iii) that identifies the point on the video recording at which the event was recorded.
(4) The time at which each video recording is commenced and terminated, if different than when surveillance commenced or terminated.
(5) Time each surveillance event terminated.
(6) A summary of the results of the surveillance.
(7) A complete description of the time, date and, if known, the cause of any equipment or camera malfunctions, and the time at which the security department was apprised of the malfunction in accordance with the casino licensee's internal controls submitted under § 465a.2(d)(5).
(g) In accordance with § 465a.2(d)(5), each slot machine licensee shall have a contingency plan, to be utilized whenever there is an equipment failure that affects the slot machine licensee's monitoring room or other aspect of its surveillance system or operations.
(h) The casino compliance representatives at the licensed facility shall be notified within 30 minutes of any incident of equipment failure as noted in subsection (f) including the time and cause of the malfunction, if known, the time the slot machine licensee's security department was notified of the malfunction and the nature of communications with the security department relating to the malfunction.
(i) The casino compliance supervisor at the licensed facility shall be notified at least 48 hours in advance of the following:
(1) Relocation of an approved camera.
(2) Change in an approved camera's specifications.
(3) Change in lighting for areas required to be subject to camera coverage.
(4) Addition or change to the surveillance system.
(j) The surveillance recordings required under subsection (e)(1), (5), (6) and (7) shall be retained for a minimum of 30 days. All other surveillance recordings shall be retained for a minimum of 7 days. Surveillance recordings shall be made available for review upon request by the Board or the Pennsylvania State Police.
(k) Any recording determined by the Board or the Pennsylvania State Police as being of potential evidentiary value shall be stored in accordance with Board or Pennsylvania State Police directives or turned over to the Board or the Pennsylvania State Police upon request. At the request and expense of the slot machine licensee, a copy of any recording turned over to the Board or the Pennsylvania State Police may be made available to the slot machine licensee.
(l) A surveillance employee assigned to the monitoring room shall work from the employee's own monitoring station.
(m) In accordance with § 465a.2(a)(5), each slot machine licensee shall be required to submit, for Board approval, a minimum staffing submission with regard to its surveillance monitor rooms. The minimum staffing submission must consider the size and layout of the licensed facility as well as the number of slot machines and must at all times provide for surveillance of activities inside and outside the licensed facility. A slot machine licensee may not implement a change or amendment in its surveillance monitor room minimum staffing submission without prior Board approval of the change or amendment.
(n) A slot machine licensee's surveillance department employees shall be independent of all other departments.
(o) A present or former surveillance department employee may not accept employment as a key employee or gaming employee with the same slot machine licensee for whom he was previously employed as a surveillance department employee unless 1 year has passed since the former surveillance department employee worked in the surveillance department. The present or former surveillance department employee may file a written petition as required under § 493a.4 (relating to petitions generally) requesting the Board to waive this restriction and permit the employment of a present or former surveillance department employee in a particular position. The Board may grant or deny the waiver upon consideration of the following factors:
(1) Whether the former surveillance department employee will be employed in a department or area of operation that the surveillance department monitors.
(2) Whether the surveillance and security systems of the slot machine licensee will be jeopardized or compromised by the employment of the former surveillance department employee in the particular position.
(3) Whether the former surveillance department employee's knowledge of the procedures of the surveillance department would facilitate the commission by any person of irregularities or illegal acts or the concealment of any actions or errors.
(p) Entrances to the surveillance monitoring rooms may not be visible from the gaming floor. A person entering the surveillance monitoring room who is not an employee of the surveillance department assigned to the monitoring room on the particular shift corresponding to the time of entry shall sign a monitoring room entry log upon entering the monitoring room. The monitoring room entry log shall be:
(1) Maintained in the monitoring room by monitoring room personnel and retained in accordance with § 465a.6.
(2) Maintained in a book with bound numbered pages that cannot be readily removed or shall be maintained in an electronic format which has an audit function that prevents modification of information after the information has been entered into the system.
(3) Signed by each person entering the monitoring room, with each entry containing the following:
(i) The date and time of each entry.
(ii) The entering person's name, Board-issued credential number and department or affiliation.
(iii) The reason for entering the monitoring room.
(iv) The name of the person authorizing the person's entry into the monitoring room.
(v) The date and time of exiting the monitoring room.
(4) Made available for inspection by the Board and the Pennsylvania State Police.
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