Casinos make money by entertaining and enticing gamblers to risk their hard-earned cash. Musical shows, lighted fountains and lavish hotels help draw in the crowds, but casinos would not exist without games of chance. Slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, keno and other gambling games provide the billions in profits that casinos bring in every year. Read on to learn how casinos make their money, what to expect when you visit a casino and some of the dark side of the business.
Casino
When most people think of a casino, they picture one of the megaresorts on the Vegas strip, complete with opulent architecture and a plethora of entertainment options. However, there are actually many different types of casinos. Some are large, while others are much smaller and are defined more by the type of gambling they offer than by glitzy decor. Some are standalone, while others are part of larger resorts that include luxury spas, restaurants and shopping boutiques.
Games of Chance
Casinos rely on games of chance to generate the billions in annual profits. Though the games are not exactly fair, the house edge is small enough to allow gamblers a reasonable chance of winning. However, most gamblers lose more than they win. To offset this, casinos often offer comps to loyal players. These can take the form of free hotel rooms, meals, tickets to shows or even limo service and airline tickets. To qualify for these comps, players must play at the casino for a certain amount of time and at a particular stakes level.
The social aspect of casino gaming makes it more exciting than other forms of gambling, such as lotteries and Internet gambling. The noise and lights of a casino create a partylike atmosphere, with excited players shouting encouragement to their opponents. Alcoholic drinks are readily available and delivered to players at the tables by waiters and waitresses circulating throughout the casino. Nonalcoholic beverages are also widely available.
Security is another important aspect of a casino. Casinos use cameras and other electronic devices to monitor the activities of casino patrons, and they employ a variety of other strategies to deter cheating. Dealers, for example, keep close watch on their tables and can quickly spot blatant cheating such as marking or palming cards. Pit bosses and table managers have a broader view of the tables, watching for betting patterns that could indicate cheating.
Although most casinos use the word “casino” to describe a building or room used for social amusements, Merriam-Webster’s definition of the word includes only one activity: gambling. The word is derived from the Italian casa, meaning “small clubhouse,” and was probably first used to refer to a place where wealthy Romans met for social events after the closure of large public gambling houses. From there, the concept spread to Europe, where it evolved into a series of buildings devoted solely to gambling and other games of chance. The first modern casino was opened in 1899 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.