Apparatus and method for monitoring the play at a gaming table

In the casino environment, the time taken to complete a game at a gaming table may vary. The automatic monitoring of events at a gaming table requires expensive modification of the playing table and installation of sensing equipment to detect movements of chips and cards on the table and to detect the operations which result in suspension of play. As the operator of a gaming table is occupied during all stages of the game, manual monitoring and recording of all these events by the table operator is impractical, as the operator's attention must be concentrated on the events at the table in order to promote smooth play of the game. The present invention provides a means by which the operation of a gaming table may be monitored. There is described a method and apparatus for monitoring the play at a gaming table. The disclosed embodiment comprises a dealing shoe adapted to output signals when cards are dealt, and an input device operable by means of sensors and/or by the dealer to output signals indicating the occurrence of events during game play such as the arrival and departure of players form the table, the placing of the first bet for each game, and the resolution of the wagers to end the game. Output signals are received and stored in a memory with an associated timestamp, and analysis of the signals and their respective timestamps enables the apparatus to determine the number of players present for each game, and to calculate the number of games played, and the duration of each game. The method and apparatus are equally applicable to gaming tables which, instead of a dealing shoe, have a gaming device such as a roulette wheel, and to gaming tables where no "gaming device" is used, such as a card table using conventional playing cards only.