A casino is an establishment for certain types of gambling. It is also known as a gaming house, gambling hall or a kasino.
While musical shows, lighted fountains and shopping centers help attract visitors to casinos, the huge profits raked in by casino owners come from games of chance. Slot machines, blackjack, poker, roulette and craps are just some of the games that generate the billions in profits that casinos make every year.
Each of these games has a built in advantage for the casino, often less than two percent. This is enough to keep casinos in business, and to provide the money they spend on elaborate hotel accommodations, spectacular entertainment, food, drinks and other amenities.
Regardless of their size or location, all modern casinos are heavily equipped with state-of-the-art security systems. Video cameras monitor the casino floor to detect suspicious activity; chips with built in microcircuitry allow casinos to oversee how much is wagered minute-by-minute and warn of any statistical deviation; roulette wheels are electronically monitored to discover if they are biased.
Despite this technological sophistication, some people have found ways to beat the casino games. Some of these methods are easy to implement, like counting cards in blackjack, while others require patience and loss tolerance. But some are more sophisticated, such as a plan to manipulate the Big Six wheel in roulette, and have been described in bestselling books such as Ben Mezrich’s “Busting Vegas.” Those who can afford it often gamble in private rooms separate from the main casino floor, where the stakes are much higher.