Whether you love to hit the slots, roll the dice, play poker or throw your money at the roulette wheel, a casino is a place to feed your gambling habit and have a great time. While shows and glitzy hotels help draw in gamblers, casinos would not exist without the games that give them billions in profits every year. Read on to learn more about casinos, including how they make money, the history of popular casino games and the best places to find one near you.
Gambling is a risky business, which is why casinos spend so much time and money on security. Most casinos are heavily regulated and audited by government agencies, and big cities like Las Vegas have security systems that rival the military. Some casinos even have high-tech “eyes in the sky,” with cameras that can monitor entire rooms at once, and can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons.
In addition to traditional cameras, some casinos use special chips that have microcircuitry built in. This allows the casino to keep track of all bets placed, minute by minute, and to quickly detect any statistical deviation from expectations. The casinos also use other technology to prevent cheating, such as electronic tables that keep track of all bets made and warn players when their bankroll is getting low, or roulette wheels that are electronically monitored to catch any deviation from an expected payout pattern.
Casinos make their money by giving the house a small advantage on all bets, which add up over millions of bets and can pay for opulent hotels, dazzling fountains, and replicas of famous monuments and landmarks. The casino advantage can be as little as two percent, depending on the game and how it is played. To offset this edge, casinos try to attract the biggest bettors with extravagant inducements such as free entertainment, luxury hotel suites, reduced-fare transportation and free food and drink while they gamble.
Some of the most interesting casinos are found in tourist destinations, where they compete with other attractions such as shopping centers and dining venues. One such place is Niagara Falls, where the Seneca Casino on the U.S. side competes with the Casino Niagara and Fallsview casinos on the Canadian side of the falls.
While the majority of casino visitors are there to gamble, most casinos offer plenty of non-gambling activities to keep them entertained while they wait for their next big win. Musical shows, fine dining and a variety of shopping choices all draw in guests, and most casinos have plenty of bars where patrons can celebrate their wins or commiserate their losses. But there is always the possibility that someone will try to steal, cheat or scam his way into a jackpot, which is why casinos employ a massive security force. In addition to the usual cameras, many casinos have a staff of people that keeps an eye on all patrons and their actions. This includes dealers at table games, who are trained to spot blatant cheating such as palming, marking or switching cards; pit bosses at the tables, who watch for betting patterns that indicate collusion between players; and floor managers and other higher-ups, who monitor the activity on all casino floors.