A Casino is a place where people can play games of chance for money. While casinos may add a lot of other luxuries, like restaurants, stage shows and dramatic scenery, the vast majority of the profits for the owners come from gambling activities. Slot machines, black jack, roulette, craps and keno generate billions of dollars in profit each year. This article will look at how casinos make their money, the history of these places and the games they offer.
While gamblers have been around as long as people have been alive, the modern casino didn’t develop until the 16th century. Earlier, there had been private clubs for elite Italians who loved to gamble and socialize, called ridotti (from the Latin for “private”). This new type of casino became popular throughout Europe, as it was a way for people to find different kinds of gambling under one roof.
Today, the word casino has become synonymous with any place where a variety of games of chance can be played. The modern casino looks more like an indoor amusement park for adults, with the vast majority of its entertainment coming from gambling. While musical shows, lighted fountains and shopping centers help draw in the crowds, casinos would not exist without gambling. Slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps and keno provide the billions of dollars in profit raked in by U.S. casinos every year.
Besides offering traditional games of chance, most casinos also offer other table games, such as baccarat, poker, craps and other card games. In addition to these, some Asian casinos have incorporated several traditional Far Eastern games, including sic bo (which spread to several European and American casinos in the 1990s), fan-tan, and pai gow. Occasionally, other games of local interest may be found in some casinos, such as two-up in Australia, banca francesa in Portugal, boule in France or kalooki in Britain.
While a casino’s main business is to facilitate the gambling of money, it also takes a fair amount of time, effort and expense to maintain its security. While cameras and other technological tools have greatly improved the ability of security to spot suspicious behavior, there’s still a large amount of work that goes on behind the scenes. In general, the movements of the players and the expected reactions follow a certain pattern that makes it easier for security to notice when things deviate from those patterns.
Besides the obvious surveillance equipment, most casinos employ a variety of other security measures. Some use video surveillance to monitor players and their interactions with the dealers; others have electronic systems that track betting chips as they are inserted into the game tables, alerting the casino’s management to any deviation from expected results. Most casinos spend a great deal of money on security and have a reputation for strict rules about how money is handled and displayed. Something about gambling seems to encourage people to try to cheat or steal, so it’s important for casinos to have a solid security program.
