The Darker Side of Casinos
A casino is a place where people can gamble and play games of chance. From the glittering casinos of Las Vegas to the illegal pai gow tables in New York’s Chinatown, millions of Americans visit casinos each year. While musical shows, lighted fountains and hotels help draw in the crowds, casinos would not exist without the billions of dollars in profits raked in by games of chance such as slot machines, blackjack, roulette and craps.
While a casino’s gambling operations are usually considered legitimate, there is also a darker side to the business. The large amounts of money handled within a casino create opportunities for cheating and theft, whether in collusion with other patrons or through the use of individual cunning. To combat these dangers, the majority of casinos employ a variety of security measures. These measures include a high-tech “eye-in-the-sky” system, whereby cameras are placed throughout the casino and can be adjusted to focus on suspicious activities by security workers in a separate room full of monitors. Many casinos also have electronic surveillance systems that monitor the activity of every table and window change.
In addition to these systems, casinos also have a number of different rules and regulations that must be followed by all players in order to keep the games fair. For instance, players must not touch other player’s chips or bets and must be aware of the minimum and maximum wagers. They must also understand the rules of each game and how they are played. The most important thing to remember when visiting a casino is to have fun and play responsibly. This means not betting more than you can afford to lose and walking away from the table when you are losing.
Most casinos offer rewards programs to attract and reward loyal customers. These can include free hotel rooms, meals, show tickets and other amenities. The amount of money a customer spends in the casino determines his or her loyalty level. For example, high-spending players may receive airline tickets or limo service when they visit.
In the past, mobster money funded many of the earliest casinos, which were mostly located in Nevada. As the industry expanded, mobster money was replaced by more legitimate investors such as real estate developers and hotel chains. In addition to funding casinos, these investors often took sole or partial ownership of them. Mob influence over a casino’s outcome decreased as federal anti-mob laws were passed and the gangsters were forced out of the industry.
As the industry continues to grow, casino managers are turning to technology to improve the gaming experience and ensure that their operations are secure. For example, some casinos have developed a system whereby betting chips are equipped with microcircuitry that enables them to be monitored minute by minute, and a computer to warn of any anomaly; roulette wheels are now wired to allow for the same kind of electronic monitoring; and even video poker machines can now be electronically supervised.