In a casino, a hard count room is an extremely secure area, accessible only to designated employees, where coins from all over the casino are delivered for official counting. Just like the soft count room where paper currency is processed, hard count rooms feature a riduculous number of security cameras and mirrors focused directly on the workers. Other casino workers regularly empty coin-operated games into large containers, which are whisked away to the hard count room on a rolling cart as quickly as possible to minimize the risk of heists. In addition to counting the coins, old-school hard count rooms also cleaned the coins to keep ladies' white gloves from getting too dirty.
Since casinos are constantly looking for ways to improve their bottom line, the significant staffing requirements of a hard count room and a small army of slot machine attendants are tempting costs to cut. While the hard count room may never disappear entirely, the shift to coinless slot machines and video poker games is bound to reduce its footprint in the bowels of the casino. |
