A Casino is a place where people can play a variety of games of chance for money. The games may include poker, blackjack and slots, as well as bingo and keno. Some casinos also offer live entertainment and dining. Casinos may be combined with hotels and resorts, retail shops, restaurants and cruise ships. They are often located in or near cities.
Casino security starts on the floor, where casino employees watch over the games and patrons to make sure things go according to plan. Dealers can easily spot blatant cheating such as palming, marking cards and switching dice. Pit bosses and table managers have a broader view of the tables and can spot betting patterns that indicate cheating.
Most casinos have catwalks that run above the games, which allow surveillance personnel to look down through one-way glass and observe the activity on the game tables and slot machines. This is especially important in preventing large bettors from colluding to increase their winnings or to conceal illegal activities such as stealing chips.
A casino’s most profitable game is the slot machine, which requires no skill or strategy and pays out a predetermined amount of money depending on the pattern of the band of colored shapes that roll on the reels (whether they are real physical reels or a video representation of them). Because of this high profit margin, casinos often give “comps” to loyal players, such as free hotel rooms, meals, tickets to shows and even airline flights.