The Casino Business – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

casino

A casino, also known as a gaming hall or simply a casino, is a place where people gamble by placing cash or paper chips on various possible random outcomes of events. These games may be conducted by a live dealer or by automated means such as computerized slots. Casinos are located in many cities around the world and, as such, provide a variety of entertainment for millions of visitors each year. While musical shows, lighted fountains and shopping centers help attract customers, casinos would not exist without the billions of dollars in profits raked in by slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, keno, baccarat and other games. This article discusses the history of casinos, their most popular games and how they are played, how they keep customers coming back and the dark side of the business.

Modern casinos are huge, sprawling complexes that incorporate gambling facilities with restaurants, bars, hotels and performance venues. They are usually located in tourist areas such as resorts and cities known for their nightlife. Increasingly, however, casinos are also found in more remote locations such as military bases and riverboats. They are attracting large numbers of tourists from all over the world, particularly in the United States, where they have become a major industry.

In addition to the obvious security personnel, casinos use technology extensively to supervise the games themselves. In poker, for example, betting chips have built-in microcircuitry to enable the casinos to oversee exactly how much is wagered minute by minute; the results of dice rolls are computerized to discover any statistical deviation from expected value; and roulette wheels are filmed regularly by cameras to detect any anomaly.

Some casinos use specialized software programs that monitor players’ behavior and determine whether they are cheating or taking advantage of the house. These programs are typically developed by teams of mathematicians and programmers who work for the casinos. These mathematical analysis techniques are critical to the success of casinos because they allow them to maximize their profits while keeping the house edge and variance as low as possible.

Another way that casinos make money is by comping big spenders. These free goods or services are usually given to players who play long enough and at high enough stakes that the casino considers them good clients. Depending on the casino, this can include free hotel rooms, meals, show tickets and even airline tickets.

In the past, mobster involvement in casinos was common. But the mob was usually unable to compete with real estate investors and hotel chains, which bought out the mobsters and began operating their own casinos. The threat of losing a casino license at the slightest hint of mob ties has kept most legitimate casino businesses away from the Mafia. Still, there are exceptions, and some of the best known casinos in the world are mob-owned. Among them are the Riviera in Las Vegas and the Baden-Baden Casino in Germany.