A casino is a gambling establishment, where gamblers place bets on games of chance and win or lose money. Slot machines, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and craps are the main attractions of modern casinos. Casinos also have restaurants, musical shows and other entertainment. They provide billions of dollars in profits for their owners every year.
Casinos make their money by allowing patrons to place bets within established limits. Each game has a mathematical expected value and the house always has an advantage over the players, which is referred to as the house edge. Casinos also rake in money from patrons who play card games against each other and from table-game bettors. The house takes a percentage of each pot or charges an hourly fee for the tables.
While a casino might include a restaurant, shopping center and hotel, the bulk of its revenue comes from gambling. In 2005, Harrah’s Entertainment found that the average American casino gambler was a forty-six-year-old woman from a household with an above-average income. Many had a graduate degree and the ability to afford vacations.
Security in a casino is focused on the tables, where dealers concentrate on their own game and can spot blatant cheating such as palming, marking or switching cards. Pit bosses and table managers watch over table games with a broader view and look for betting patterns that could indicate collusion or other suspicious behavior. Elaborate surveillance systems allow security staff to watch every table, window and doorway from a separate room filled with banks of monitors.
