What is a Casino?
A Casino is a building where people can gamble and play games of chance.
Gambling is a very lucrative industry for casinos, with billions of dollars in profits coming from slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, keno and other popular games. While a casino’s music shows, lighted fountains, shopping centers, luxurious hotels and elaborate themes draw in customers, the majority of the fun and profit are due to gambling.
Casinos make money by accepting bets within a limit, and by charging a fee to patrons who win more than they spend on the game. This mathematically assures a gross profit for the casino.
The games that are most often played in casinos include baccarat–in the popular French variant known as chemin de fer–and blackjack, which is a fixture in American and European casinos. Other card games are not as frequent, but most American casinos have tables for poker, a form of gambling where players compete against each other for an hourly fee.
Craps is another highly popular casino game, and casinos usually accept bets on its results. Although it requires a relatively high percentage of the money bet, it attracts large bettors and is a profitable game for casinos to run.
Security is a top priority for casino operators, and extensive surveillance systems offer a high-tech “eye in the sky” that allows security workers to watch all of the casino at once. They also monitor video feeds and can adjust the cameras to focus on suspicious patrons.