A casino is a public place that offers games of chance and where gambling is the primary activity. It is often a glamorous, large building with a variety of gambling tables and machines. Some casinos also have stage shows and other forms of entertainment to draw in patrons. Casinos are found all over the world, although many countries have strict laws against them.
While musical shows, lighted fountains and shopping centers help attract guests, casinos would not exist without the billions of dollars in profits raked in each year from games of chance like slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat and keno. Gambling is an ancient pastime, dating back thousands of years to China, where archeologists have found wooden blocks used for dice games. Cards arrived in Europe around 500 AD, and the first table game appeared in the 1400s.
Modern casinos offer a variety of table games, electronic machines and video poker, along with dozens of restaurants, bars and stores. Some are located in exotic locales, such as Venice, Monaco and Singapore. A few are even located on cruise ships.
A key to casino profitability is the house edge, a built-in advantage over players that guarantees the house a profit (or expected value). It may only be two percent or less, but it adds up to enough money to fund dazzling casinos with towers, replicas of famous landmarks and other extravagant attractions. Casinos also collect a commission, or rake, from table games and some video poker machines.
The history of casinos has been marred by illegal activities and corruption. In Nevada, where casino gambling became legal in the 1950s, mafia figures brought in cash to help build and finance them. They took sole or partial ownership of some casinos and controlled others through extortion and violence against employees.
Today’s casino is a sophisticated operation that relies on security technology to keep out cheaters and prevent bribery and other crimes. Video cameras monitor everything from entrances to the gaming floor and the tables themselves. Special chips with microcircuitry allow the casinos to monitor betting patterns minute-by-minute and instantly detect any anomalies. Casinos also hire mathematicians to analyze the results of games to make sure they are following statistical rules.
Some of the world’s largest casinos are in cities with long histories of gambling, such as Monte-Carlo and Macau. The newest, and most spectacular, is Galaxy Macau in Hong Kong, a 63-acre complex housing a Ritz Carlton, Andaz, JW Marriott and Raffles hotels as well as hundreds of table games and slots. The casino itself has an indoor lake and three outdoor pools and is surrounded by shops, restaurants and other luxury attractions. In Vegas, the Caesars Palace and the Wynn casinos are also gargantuan and luxurious.