A casino is a gambling establishment that offers players the opportunity to gamble on games of chance or skill, including poker, blackjack, roulette, craps and baccarat. A casino’s primary source of revenue is the house edge, or the house’s advantage over the player, in a game. This advantage is determined by the rules of the game, the quality of the dealer and other factors.
In modern casinos, a large percentage of the profits are made by high rollers who place bets in the tens of thousands of dollars. To encourage such gamblers to continue to spend enormous amounts of money, the casino provides comps (free items or rooms) such as food, drinks and entertainment. To keep track of the amount of money being bet, the casino uses electronic systems to monitor the exact amounts being wagered minute by minute and alert managers to any statistical deviations from expectations.
The large sums of money handled within a casino create temptations for both patrons and employees to cheat or steal, either in collusion or independently. This is why most casinos have extensive security measures. Security personnel walk around with security cameras to watch all areas of the casino, and table managers and pit bosses have a broader view of the games to spot any suspicious betting patterns or other indications of cheating.
Casino employees often know which machines are “hot” and can tell you where to find them, but it’s important to remember that they are not allowed to give this information to anyone else. It may be against company policy and could even cost them their job.