Casinos are world-class gambling venues that draw millions of tourists and generate enormous amounts of money for their owners. Las Vegas and Atlantic City are the most famous, but there are casinos throughout the country that compete for gamblers’ attention with flashing lights, high-end dining options and breath-taking art installations. But what’s inside the walls of a casino is just as interesting as the buildings themselves. This article takes a look at how casinos make their money, how they stay safe and the dark side of the business.
Something about large sums of cash encourages people to cheat or steal, whether in collusion with fellow patrons or on their own. Because of this, casinos devote a lot of time, effort and money to security. They have elaborate surveillance systems with cameras that provide a view of every table, window and doorway; they can even be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons by workers in a separate room filled with banks of security monitors.
Slot machines are the economic backbone of modern American casinos, generating income from high volume, rapid play at small sums ranging from five cents to a dollar. Table games like baccarat (in the form of chemin de fer), blackjack, poker and trente et quarante (in France) offer different profit opportunities.
But no matter which game a patron chooses, there’s one thing they all have in common: the house always wins. To ensure that they do, casinos calculate the mathematical expectancy of each game and use that information to set minimum bets and maximum winnings. To do this, they hire mathematicians and computer programmers who specialize in gambling analysis.