A casino is a gambling establishment where people wager money and sometimes even food or drink. Often casinos are combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shopping, and cruise ships. In some countries, like China, casinos are the most popular tourist attractions and attract visitors from around the world. Many casinos feature themed gaming areas, luxury amenities, and garden swimming pools.
Unlike horse racing or boxing, where a winner is determined by chance, most casino games are designed to give the house an edge over the players. This advantage is built into the rules of each game and can be expressed mathematically as an expected value that is uniformly negative (from the player’s perspective). This edge is also known as the house edge or vig. In poker, it is taken as a percentage of each hand played.
In the twentieth century, as states liberalized their gambling laws, casinos grew to become a significant part of tourism and local economies. They are often found in cities with large populations of people who enjoy gambling and are willing to spend a lot of money. Some states have even legalized riverboat and Native American casinos.
Something about the atmosphere of casinos encourages patrons to cheat, steal and scam. That is why security is a major concern for casinos. Staff members keep their eyes on patrons to make sure they are not attempting to cheat or steal at the tables. Casinos also employ a variety of technological measures to monitor their customers, including cameras mounted on the ceiling that give staff a high-tech eye-in-the-sky view of the entire casino floor.
