Casino Security in the Blockbuster Hit, "Ocean's Thirteen"
In the movie, Ocean's 13, the main characters must topple a dishonorable tycoon's newly-built casino. Their task is basically to exact revenge on this individual, played by Oscar award-winning Actor, Al Pacino, for cheating on and almost bankrupting one of this character's closest friends.
Danny Ocean -played by George Clooney- and his gang of twelve friends and allies -played by such well-known actors as Brad Pitt and Matt Damon- have to overcome the stringent security systems that are in place in the casino so that they can make sure that players on the gambling floor win repeatedly and eventually -but quickly- bankrupt the establishment. To remain undetected, this group goes as far as to manipulate the Mexican manufacturing company making the dice being used in that particular casino's craps games. They also reprogram various systems and impersonate casino personnel so that they can illegally tip the odds in the players' favors.
This motley band of highly skilled, but somewhat unconventional individuals, undertake a seemingly insurmountable task, because casinos invest a great deal of time, manpower, and other resources on their security. As a 30 billion dollar industry, a casino stands to lose a great deal from little more than a single breach in an establishment's security. In the movie, the casino's security systems even go so far as to monitor a gambler's heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure, to ascertain whether or not their reactions to either victory, or defeat, are genuine, and thus, be able to root out cheaters. Ocean's Thirteen were able to circumvent this incredibly intricate and effective system by allowing casino-goers who were completely uninvolved in their plot to win. This particular ruse could best be seen in action when Brad Pitt, after manipulating a single slot machine on the floor, leaves a coin there that anyone might pick up and use to play the slot machine with. When an unsuspecting middle-aged woman takes the bait and plays that particular machine, her reaction to her victory is genuine, and it registers as such on the establishment's security system.
Ocean's Thirteen don't take any chances though; they don't just breach the casino's security once, but they do it several times, in many different ways, all at the same time. They not only manipulate various components of the casino's gambling floor to cause people to win, but they also make sure to physically damage the building's infrastructure by simulating an earthquake. This movie, while perhaps taking some artistic license with certain details, certainly pulls out all the stops when it comes to overthrowing as huge and as secure an establishment as a Las Vegas casino.
