A casino is a place where people can gamble. It is often combined with hotels, restaurants and other entertainment venues. It is a popular place for tourists and locals alike. Some casinos are very large and elaborate, such as the Hotel Lisboa in Macao, shaped to look like a birdcage. Others are more modest, such as the small club in Reno, Nevada. In either case, casinos are designed to create an atmosphere of excitement and luxury.
The casino industry is booming. In the United States, 51 million people, or one quarter of all Americans over 21, visited a casino in 2002. Many of these visitors spent money on food, drinks and entertainment, but gambling is the engine that drives the business. A casino makes money by charging players for the right to try their luck at games of chance. The games of choice include slot machines, blackjack, roulette, baccarat and craps. Each game has a built in edge for the casino, usually less than two percent, but over time that small advantage adds up to billions of dollars in annual profits for the owners of casinos.
Something about the casino business seems to attract criminals and scam artists. That’s why casinos spend a lot of time and money on security. Employees watch over the tables and patrons, looking for blatant cheating and observing betting patterns that might indicate a gang. Elaborate surveillance systems provide an eye-in-the-sky view of the entire casino floor, and can be focused on specific patrons by security workers in a separate room filled with banks of monitors.
In the early years of the casino industry, mobster money poured into Las Vegas and Reno. Mobster money brought with it a certain taint that made legitimate businessmen wary of getting involved. But the mobsters weren’t satisfied with simply funding casinos; they got personal, taking sole or partial ownership of some casinos and even influencing game outcomes through intimidation of casino personnel.
Modern casinos are less concerned with drawing in the occasional gambler and more focused on maximizing the amount of money spent by high-stakes gamblers. They lure these big spenders with perks such as free rooms, all-you-can-eat buffets and discounted travel packages. Known as “comps,” these incentives are designed to encourage gamblers to play and to reward those who spend the most.
In addition to comps, casinos offer a wide range of other incentives to keep gamblers in their facilities. These include music and light shows, ice bars, dance floors and other forms of entertainment that might appeal to the senses or entertain guests while they’re waiting for their next big score. In this way, the modern casino is much more like an indoor amusement park for adults than a simple gambling establishment. It is this combination of entertainment and gambling that attracts millions of visitors and brings in billions of dollars each year for its owners. A casino has a unique atmosphere that can be found in cities all over the world.