What is Eye in the Sky?

Eye in the sky is the casino industry's name for the ceiling-mounted surveillance system that covers a gaming floor, and by extension for the surveillance room that watches it. Coverage is not general security footage. Every table, cash desk and machine is framed so that cards, chips and hands are individually readable, and the recordings are retained for a period set by the regulator rather than by the operator. Surveillance staff usually report separately from the floor management they are watching, which is the point of the arrangement. It exists as much for the player as against them. Disputed payouts, misdealt hands and chip-count arguments are settled by pulling the recording, and a claim that a bet was placed before the call is either supported by the tape or it is not. Online, the equivalent role is played by round histories and game round identifiers, which serve the same evidential purpose without a camera.