What Is a Casino?
A casino is a gambling establishment where people pay money to gamble. They play games of chance and in some cases skill, such as craps, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, and video poker. Most games have mathematically determined odds that ensure the house has at all times an advantage over the players, which is known as the house edge. The casino makes its profit from this advantage, which can be as low as two percent or as high as forty percent of a total bet, and by taking a percentage of the winnings (or payout) in games where there is a winner, such as poker, by charging an hourly fee or taking a fixed percentage of each pot.
The modern casino is a complex facility with many different game areas, restaurants and entertainment attractions. Some casinos also have hotel facilities and convention centers. The most famous casino is in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, many large cities around the world have casinos, and some states have legalized them to lure tourists.
Some critics of casinos claim that they do not bring a net benefit to the community, especially when local residents are compulsive gamblers. They argue that casino revenues reduce spending on other forms of local entertainment and contribute to a decrease in real estate prices. In addition, they say that local governments must spend taxpayer money to treat gambling addiction and to compensate for lost productivity caused by the addicts’ absence from work and family responsibilities.
Most American casinos offer the traditional table games of poker, blackjack, and craps. Some have more exotic games, such as baccarat (called chemin de fer in Europe), sic bo, fan-tan, and pai gow. Asian casinos often feature a number of traditional Far Eastern games, such as teochew bridge, pachislo, and two-up.
Security is an important consideration for any casino. Casinos employ guards and cameras to monitor activity. They also have special catwalks over the casino floor, where surveillance personnel can look down through one-way glass at patrons playing table games and slot machines. Each table game has its own manager or pit boss who watches the action and looks for blatant cheating, such as palming, marking or switching cards or dice.
In the 1950s, mobsters controlled the casinos in Reno and Las Vegas. But with the mob’s wealth and clout diminishing as federal laws against gambling became more strict, legitimate businessmen with deep pockets took over. Donald Trump and the Hilton hotel chain are examples of this trend. Some casinos are even run by private investment firms that have sunk huge sums into building and maintaining them. Even so, the faintest whiff of mob involvement can result in a loss of a license to operate a casino. This sensitivity to any appearance of criminality has given the casino industry a bad reputation that many Americans find hard to stomach.