The glamorous casinos of Las Vegas, Monaco, and elsewhere draw crowds for their lavish shows, fancy restaurants, and luxurious hotel suites. But those attractions wouldn’t be possible without the games that draw in gamblers and bring in billions in profits each year: poker, blackjack, craps, roulette, keno, and more. This article takes a closer look at how casinos make money, their history, and the rules and tricks that keep them running smoothly.
Casinos use a variety of strategies to encourage people to gamble and to reward those who do. For example, they offer free drinks and show tickets. They also have bright and sometimes gaudy floor and wall coverings that are designed to stimulate the senses and cheer up patrons. In addition to these visual cues, casinos use sounds and music to add to the excitement.
Many of the more sophisticated casino games are rigged with microcircuitry and computer chips to prevent cheating or tampering. These technologies allow a casino to monitor betting chips minute by minute and warn players when the game is not operating as expected. In some cases, the technology allows casinos to observe exactly what is happening inside a roulette wheel or a dice table and detect even slight statistical deviations.
Something about gambling seems to encourage some people to try to cheat or steal their way into a jackpot. That’s why casinos spend a lot of time and money on security. Using cameras, electronic surveillance equipment, and the “eye-in-the-sky” system of overhead cameras that can be angled to focus on suspicious patrons, casino security personnel can watch every table, window, and doorway.
