Challenges to the Security Discipline

As we reflect on 2025, the greatest success of the year was our people. The casino security business is filled with its array of challenges, just like any sector where you are tasked with the protection of employees, guests and property.

    No matter what security challenges are faced, it is a humble reminder that the greatest asset we have in our business is our people. The culture you build, the training programs and support systems to strengthen retention, the effectiveness of hiring the best-in-class security professionals who embrace your mission and culture, and the recognition of the great work that your team completes on a daily basis create by far the greatest success we can take away from 2025.

    As we move into 2026, we are focused on some key trends about which all casino security professionals should be aware. Although the casino business is a large-scale worldwide sector, it is a tightly knit group of security professionals who understand the challenges that we all face.

    Retention has long been one of the greatest threats to any large-scale casino security operation. As we moved out of the pandemic, the workforce landscape presented great challenges to casino operators, with staffing challenges across all sectors of private security and with recruitment competitiveness we have not seen in our industry before.

    Combine the staffing and recruitment challenges with organizations trying to find their culture again as everyone returned to the workforce, and we faced massive retention issues across the entire sector. This issue has pushed security leaders to find innovative ways to improve retention and recruitment and stabilize their workforce.

    Retention issues have long-term ramifications for any organization. Hiring and turnover needs pose high costs, along with the subsequent overtime used to fill gaps when you face lower staffing levels.

Improving Retention

High retention is also a risk and liability to your organization as you face training and development of new staff and the proverbial “learning curve,” necessary as you bring on new personnel.

    Organizations must focus on line-level and middle management leadership development now more than ever to improve retention, inspire effective recruitment and promote a culture of servant leadership.

    Promoting an atmosphere of recognition, providing resources for development, embracing wellness programs and promoting open dialogue with employees about your efforts to be a competitive company with wage and benefits reinforces that you are a “people first” organization that will improve retention numbers.

    Technology is evolving quickly. Casino security operations are often targeted by the latest and greatest technology companies offering their tools to a sector that is often looked at as being on the edge of security technology with the money to spend on it.

    Gaming facilities have an abundance of security layers in place to protect the vast infrastructure needed to operate. With this comes a great deal of challenge as you set out to identify the right technology for your specific operation.

    It is a highly competitive market with pressure from vendors looking to provide you with their technology. AI has taken off, particularly with surveillance technology that aims to assist security professionals in quickly identifying threats. These threats range from weapons detection to behavioral analytics. It is important that casino security professionals implement technology that is effective in their environment at a pace that is inclusive of training programs that team up machines with people for efficient and effective rollouts.

    Without your people knowing the tools, understanding their use and embracing how they will assist in becoming a better organization, they will not maximize their benefit. It is also imperative that the technology tools you select come with an appropriate business case, an ROI and a full understanding of the realistic capabilities when pitched to C-suites for approval. It is important to manage expectations and maintain credibility as security professionals to protect the casino security environment.

    Training programs of large security workforces in the casino security business are always top of mind. When incidents of high risk that lead to litigation arise, they often expose gaps in training programs. These gaps are either in how they are written or how they are executed. This will only continue for years to come.

    It is imperative that training programs are streamlined for consistency across all of your properties. They must be audited for accuracy in how they are being executed and they must be tested for effectiveness. Implementing effective feedback channels from your employees to understand what front-line security professionals are looking for is key to success. Training programs must be written with the inclusion of key stakeholders such as risk, legal and safety departments. Communication is key during the rollout of programs that must include the “why,” so that your employees embrace the program as part of their culture.

    Next we address the evolution of video surveillance in casino game protection. In this segment, Max Davis, with over 20 years in the video surveillance space, addresses three key questions about technology in casinos, and I couldn’t agree more with what he says.

—by Douglas Florence Sr.

Douglas Florence Sr., CPP is the founder of Douglas Investigative Group and an expert on gaming resort surveillance and security. Throughout his career, Florence has worked in security operations and has developed a diverse background of experience in security operations across vertical business segments.