A casino is a facility that offers various gambling activities. The modern casino is more like an indoor amusement park than a traditional gaming house, with musical shows, lighted fountains and shopping centers helping to draw in the crowds. But the casino would not exist without games of chance that provide the billions in profits that casinos rake in each year.
While the majority of casino revenue comes from slot machines, many people also enjoy playing table games like blackjack, roulette and baccarat. These are games of chance that require skill, but the casino still has a built-in advantage over the players. The house edge can be very small – less than two percent, in fact — but over time it is what earns the casinos their billions in annual profits.
Casinos use a variety of methods to ensure the integrity of their gambling operations. On the floor, casino employees keep their eyes on patrons and the game to spot blatant cheating, such as palming or marking dice. Table managers and pit bosses watch over the tables with a more expansive view, checking betting patterns for signs of collusion or other cheating. And behind the scenes, a casino’s specialized surveillance department operates its closed circuit television system – known as the “eye in the sky” – that allows security personnel to monitor all of the casino’s activities through one-way glass.
In the past, casinos were often controlled by organized crime groups and mobster families. But as real estate investors and hotel chains invested in the industry, they bought out the mobs. Federal crackdowns on mob involvement in casino gambling and the threat of losing a license at the slightest hint of mobsters mean that legitimate businesses now run most casinos without any mob interference.