Casinos are venues for gambling where people play games of chance, or with an element of skill, such as blackjack and roulette. They usually offer free entertainment, meals, transportation, hotel rooms and other inducements to attract big-spending customers.
Gaming machines (slots) and table games are the most popular forms of casino entertainment, but a small number of games such as bingo and poker are also found at casinos. Random-number games are another type of game found at casinos, with computerized random-number generators used to produce winning numbers.
Security is a major concern in casino establishments. Both patrons and staff may be tempted to cheat, and many casinos employ security measures such as surveillance cameras to keep casino employees and players safe.
Cameras located throughout the casino and catwalks in the ceiling above the casino floor provide a high-tech “eye in the sky” that allows surveillance personnel to watch the entire casino. The cameras can be adjusted to focus on certain suspicious patrons, and the video feed is recorded so that a crime or a cheating incident can be identified after the fact.
A casino offers a variety of games, but the most popular are slot machines and table games such as craps, roulette and blackjack. Each of these games gives the house a mathematically determined advantage over the player, called the house edge.
The house edge is important in slot machine games, as it determines the percentage of a player’s bet that the casino will keep. However, it is less significant in other games, such as roulette and baccarat, where the odds are more balanced and the house edge is much lower.