What Is a Casino?
What Is a Casino?
When people hear the word casino, visions of twinkly lights and one-armed bandits come to mind. But there is much more to a casino than meets the eye. Casinos are places where millions of dollars pass through the doors almost daily. They are where dreams are made, where money is won and lost, and where even non-gamblers can find something to enjoy.
From Venice’s Grand Canal to Monte Carlo’s racetrack, casinos are as glamorous as they are lucrative. While the term “casino” originally meant a public hall for music and dancing, by the 19th century it had come to refer to a collection of gambling rooms. In Nevada and elsewhere, casino owners capitalized on this trend by building casinos that were a destination for gamblers.
Some casinos are also known for their live entertainment. The legendary Caesars Palace in Las Vegas is famous for hosting superstars like Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion, Rod Stewart and Bette Midler. It has also hosted events such as the World Series of Poker and the Miss Universe pageant.
A casino is a business that is licensed by the government to accept bets on various games of chance. These games of chance are not played against other patrons but are conducted by croupiers on behalf of the casino. The house edge of each game is set by the laws of the jurisdiction in which it operates and, for games where skill can be involved, by mathematical analysis. Casinos must have a high enough gross profit margin to be able to cover the cost of the games they offer.
Casinos have to take major steps to ensure that fraud and illegal activity do not occur. This includes everything from counterfeiting casino chips to card counting to ensuring that all patrons are of legal age by checking IDs. In addition, casinos need to keep up with the latest technology in order to monitor their facilities. Cameras and security monitors help security keep an eye on everything, paper shredders and protective document boxes keep customer records secure, and there is a lot more.
It is the security and management of casino games that make them so fascinating to even those who do not gamble. For example, table games are managed by pit bosses and casino managers who closely watch their tables for blatant cheating such as palming, marking and switching cards or dice. They also make sure that all table employees are on the same page and working together to avoid cheating.
Elaborate surveillance systems give the casino a high-tech “eye in the sky” that can be focused on suspicious patrons by security workers in a room full of banks of monitors. Casinos also have to track their slot machine payouts and have computer algorithms that can detect if a specific player is trying to manipulate the odds. These mathematicians are called gaming analysts and they are not employed by the casinos themselves.