A Casino is a gambling establishment where patrons wager money against the house. While musical shows, lighted fountains and elaborate hotels may attract customers, casinos would not exist without the billions in profits generated by games of chance like blackjack, roulette, craps, keno and baccarat. Some casinos also offer Far Eastern games like sic bo and fan-tan.
Because of the large amounts of money handled, casino staff and patrons may be tempted to cheat or steal. To combat these dangers, casinos employ a variety of security measures. These range from simple surveillance cameras to high-tech “eyes-in-the-sky” systems that allow security personnel to monitor every table, window and doorway from a room filled with banks of computer screens.
Many casinos reward loyal patrons with free hotel rooms, meals and tickets to shows. This practice is called comping. To qualify for a comp, ask a casino employee or visit the information desk.
Casinos make their money by imposing an inherent long-term advantage on some games and taking a percentage of winning bets, or vigorish, on others. Games that require skill to play properly, such as poker, give players the chance to overcome the casino’s edge by making a series of optimal decisions. Those who do so are known as advantage players.
Casinos also earn a significant amount of their income from slots and video poker machines, which are often programmed to return a specific percentage of the coins or tokens that are fed into them. This is known as a “house edge,” and it differs from game to game.