AI-Powered Gun Detection System Snubbed at Nevada’s Casinos

As Nevada has experienced several high-profile security incidents across its casinos, including a stabbing earlier this year at the Red Rock Casino, which injured two employees and led to the death of the perpetrator, the need for better security has been articulated by operators, lawmakers, and the general public.

Earlier this week, a private company announced that it has already been bolstering the security of Clark County as well as many as 18 casinos in Nevada, but refused to name the properties for safety reasons. Now, though, a new and advanced system is looking to revolutionize the way that casinos monitor and prevent gun threats.

ZeroEyes Promises to Revolutionize How Casinos Respond to Gun Threats
A tribal casino in Oklahoma, the Muskogee Nation Gaming Enterprise in Tulsa, is already using an AI-powered system called ZeroEyes that connects to an app and allows operators to detect guns on patrons and alert staff security.

The solution sounds as if it were the plot of Minority Report, a short novel turned into a movie blockbuster, which allows police officers to predict and prevent crime before it happens. However, this futuristic technology, promising as it is, may not see its way to casinos in Nevada – at least not for now.

The issue is that third parties may not monitor casino camera footage, because Nevada makes sure that the onus is on the casino properties to uphold requirements tied to their security and cannot blame third parties for omissions.

Speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Muskogee Nation Gaming Enterprise director of compliance Travis Thompson has outlined the potential benefits of the ZeroEyes system, which is essentially an “AI-based machine learning detection software tied to a huge database of guns.”

The system is using real-time video footage to assess threats by feeding it to an AI server, Thompson told the publication, highlighting the efficiency of this technology and the good that it can do for the sector and more importantly – for staff and patrons.

Don’t Expect the System in Vegas Any Time Soon
However, Caesars Palace VP of security Rick Vonfeldt told the publication that it’s unlikely to see it happen any time soon if the server that processes the threat levels is based remotely and not on-site at casinos. However, Vonfeldt told the publication that he was impressed with a demonstration of the system and what it could mean for casino security.

Vonfeldt highlighted how the system can flag suspicious behavior or alert casino security officers about potential gun threats and dispatch resources efficiently to investigate. The system has other upsides, according to another person interviewed by the Review-Journal, Joel Kisner, a retired Metro cop.

Basically, the type of detection the system brings to the table is orders of magnitude better than anything humans can do, but Kisner cautions that the system is not a surefire way to prevent threats, and it will miss things, that human security will have to catch.

All told, ZeroEyes is a powerful system with promising potential, but regulation may hold it back and out of Nevada casinos at least for now.