A casino is a place where people gamble and play games of chance. It can be as massive as the Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco or as intimate as a small card table in someone’s home. The sexy, flashy casinos of Las Vegas are the best known but they can also be found in less glamorous locales such as truck stops and bars. A casino is a business and, like all businesses, it needs to attract customers. To that end, it offers a variety of amenities beyond gambling such as restaurants and free drinks.
Casinos are a big draw for visitors and generate billions in annual revenue for owners, corporations, investors and Native American tribes. They also provide jobs. Something about the glitz and glamour of casinos attracts criminals, cheaters and scam artists, so security is a big part of their operations. Elaborate surveillance systems offer a high-tech “eye-in-the-sky” that can be tuned to focus on suspicious patrons by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of monitors. Video cameras watch every table, change in window and doorway, and can be adjusted to hone in on specific suspects.
Casinos also have built-in advantages that guarantee they will make a profit on most games. These advantages are called house edges and they differ by game. As a result, it is very rare for a casino to lose money on its gambling activities, even for one day. Because of this virtual assurance of gross profit, casinos regularly reward big bettors with extravagant inducements such as free spectacular entertainment, limousine transportation and elegant living quarters.