Case Study
Setting New Standards in Casino Surveillance
Why Synergy is the system of choice for Canadian properties, Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara.
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Fallsview Casino Resort is one of the largest and one of the most luxurious gaming resorts in Canada. Its sister site, Casino Niagara, is an equally important asset for the region’s booming leisure and hospitality industry.
Offering over 4,700 slot machines and 160 gaming tables for guests to choose from, the two sites don’t just share a parent operating company – Mohegan – they also share surveillance footage, which is monitored and managed with the same solution, Synergy.
A clear focus on making casino surveillance simpler
Work to replace legacy surveillance solutions at both sites was completed in September 2024, with Synectics initially implementing its Synergy software in Fallsview Casino and, more recently, Casino Niagara.
While both systems are independent, video surveillance from either location can be accessed from each facility’s control room.
Mike Stanciu, Director of Surveillance for both facilities, commented: “The ability to access multiple sites is very important for connected sites like ours. Having Synergy for both locations also makes consistency and training much easier. But while these benefits are important, they are perhaps secondary to the real reason we chose Synergy: it makes daily life so much simpler for our Surveillance Investigators and Technical team."
“Being able to quickly and intuitively navigate between live cameras, easily create and manage incidents, and cut footage reviews from hours down to minutes. These things matter, and Synergy’s investigator-friendly design reflects that.”
Adaptable mapping made for casinos that constantly change
It’s not just live viewing and video management that has been simplified. Synergy’s mapping capabilities are also having a big impact by bringing multiple layers and thousands of cameras into one user-friendly layout.
Mike added: “When I first saw how easy it is to upload our own CAD maps to Synergy and how quickly we could adapt and switch between mapping layers, I thought it was unbelievable. I could immediately see the value of this for us."
"We are frequently improving our gaming floor layout and adapting to the new maps in Synergy. So, making mapping changes to our surveillance solution with such ease is hugely beneficial.”
Reliability that helps surveillance directors “sleep at night”
Like all gaming properties, Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara must guard against footage loss and regulatory obligations. Failure to do so risks losing money to thefts or fraudulent play, costly property closures, and possible exposure to regulatory penalties.
To avoid such scenarios, Synectics has implemented redundancy and resiliency measures. For example, should the primary Synergy server fail at either site, the entire software application is replicated onto a backup server for uninterrupted control – with everything failing back once the issue is resolved.
‘Hot swap’ recording failover adds another layer of protection, ensuring that recording automatically re-routes to an alternative device should the usual storage unit or device fail.
“There’s a big difference between having measures to protect against coverage loss and knowing that those measures will work. As a Casino Surveillance Director, you’ll only be able to sleep at night if you have the latter.”
As a preventative measure, Mike and his team also use Synergy’s system health dashboards, which provide real-time data on server and storage equipment status. This ensures that any warning indicators can be quickly addressed before problems occur.
A future open to a raft of useful integrations
Synergy’s open architecture ensures that once implemented, users can easily integrate with other technologies and systems in accordance with evolving needs, budgets, and business priorities.
This was another important factor in switching both sites to Synergy for Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara.
Mike concluded: “We will continue to evaluate integration with other systems in the facility and use those opportunities to build out a resilient and holistic interconnected ecosystem.
“The rise of AI also presents unique opportunities for further integration, to analyse gaming data for anomalies or harness metadata for faster incident investigations."
"As a world leader in gaming, we continue to explore AI and its capabilities and while we can’t predict the future, what we do know is that with Synergy, we’ve got these opportunities.”
Surveillance Best Practices for Casinos and Integrated Resorts
This guide looks at surveillance best practices for achieving compliant, efficient operations and improved customer service.
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Why is Synergy a leading video management software option for casino surveillance?
Synergy, Synectics' integrated security and surveillance software, is designed for complex, highly regulated casino and gaming environments. It combines live and recorded video, incident management, adaptable mapping, system health monitoring and resilient recording within an investigator-friendly operational platform.
Fallsview Casino Resort and Casino Niagara use Synergy to manage surveillance across two connected gaming properties offering more than 4,700 slot machines and 160 gaming tables. Each casino has an independent Synergy system, while authorised surveillance teams can access video from either property through both control rooms.
Key capabilities demonstrated at Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara include:
- Integrated live and recorded video management across two casino properties
- Secure cross-site access to surveillance footage from either control room
- Faster video investigations, reducing some footage reviews from hours to minutes
- Intuitive navigation between live cameras and recorded footage
- Integrated incident creation and management for surveillance investigators
- A consistent user experience that simplifies training across both properties
- Layered CAD mapping covering thousands of casino cameras
- Adaptable maps that can be updated as gaming-floor layouts change
- Primary and backup Synergy servers for uninterrupted system control
- Automatic failover and failback to support continuous operation
- Hot-swap recording failover that redirects recording if storage equipment fails
- Real-time server and storage health dashboards
- Early warning indicators that support proactive system maintenance
- Protection against footage loss and associated regulatory and financial risks
- Open architecture supporting future integrations with casino systems and analytics
- Scalable surveillance management for large gaming, leisure and hospitality environments
This makes Synergy particularly suitable for casinos that need reliable video availability, rapid investigations and flexible surveillance operations across changing gaming environments. Its combination of investigator-friendly workflows, adaptable mapping, system resilience and open integration helps surveillance teams operate efficiently while supporting regulatory obligations.
Synergy’s open architecture also gives Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara a foundation for future integrations. Potential applications being evaluated include using AI to identify anomalies in gaming data and applying video metadata to accelerate investigations. These represent future opportunities rather than capabilities currently confirmed as deployed at the properties.
How does Synergy improve casino surveillance and operational resilience?
Synergy gives surveillance teams at Fallsview Casino and Casino Niagara a consistent platform for managing live video, recorded footage, incidents and thousands of cameras. Although each property operates an independent surveillance system, authorised teams can access footage from both locations, improving cross-site visibility and operational consistency.
Its investigator-friendly interface makes it easier to navigate between cameras, create incidents and review footage. This has reduced some investigations from hours to minutes, helping teams respond more efficiently to suspected theft, fraud, disputed activity and other gaming-floor incidents.
Layered CAD mapping allows camera locations to be visualised and updated as gaming-floor layouts change. This is particularly valuable for casinos that frequently reposition tables, slot machines and other operational areas.
Server replication, automatic failover, and hot-swap recording protection help maintain system control and video availability in the event of equipment failure. Real-time health dashboards also allow technical teams to identify server or storage warnings before they affect operations. Together, these capabilities strengthen operational resilience and reduce the risk of footage loss, regulatory issues and disruption.