Casino: Facts and Details
A casino is a place to gamble. It offers a variety of gambling games such as slots, roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, keno and baccarat. It is a major source of income for many states and provides jobs to thousands of people.
While the lights, musical shows and dazzling fountains that are typical of casinos attract many customers, the billions in profits that they rake in each year would not exist without the games themselves. Gambling in its various forms has been a feature of virtually all human societies throughout history.
Casinos employ a variety of security measures to keep their customers safe. Security workers patrol the casino floor, observing patrons and attempting to spot any suspicious behavior. They use video cameras mounted in the ceiling to provide a view of every table and slot machine in the entire facility. This technology enables casinos to monitor the results of each game minute by minute and to detect any statistical deviation from the expected results.
There is one certainty in gambling, and that is that the casino will always win. Casinos have built into each game mathematical odds that guarantee the house a constant profit, a gain known as the house edge. The house edge differs by game, with some games (such as baccarat) demanding an advantage no higher than 1.5 percent, while others (such as roulette and blackjack) require an advantage of only 1 percent or less.
