The casino is a glitzy, glamorous place that houses a variety of games where gambling is the primary activity. The glitzy decor, stage shows, free drinks and elaborate themes are all designed to draw in the crowds, but casinos would not exist without games of chance like slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, keno and baccarat.
Gambling, in some form, has been part of human life for millennia. Archeologists have discovered wooden blocks used for gambling in China dating back to 2300 BC, dice became popular in Rome around 500 AD and card games appeared in the 1400s. Casinos, in modern form, first popped up in the United States when Atlantic City legalized gambling in 1978, followed by Iowa which legalized riverboat gambling in the 1980s. Many American Indian reservations are also home to casinos that are exempt from state antigambling laws.
Casinos make money by giving the house a built in advantage over the patrons on every game offered. This advantage can be as small as two percent, but it adds up over time and millions of bets. To calculate how much the casino will make on each game, they use computer programs to model the odds and probabilities of each outcome. This information is crucial for the casino to plan and operate profitably. The people who do this mathematical work for casinos are called gaming mathematicians and analysts.
Aside from games of chance, casinos offer spectacular live entertainment and luxury hotel rooms. Some of the world’s largest casinos are in Asia, including the Venetian Macau which is the second biggest casino in the world and includes a canal with bridges and gondolas, 350 shops, a Michelin-starred restaurant and three hotels. Caesars Palace’s Circus Maximus Showroom has hosted entertainers like Frank Sinatra, Rod Stewart, Madonna and Celine Dion and is currently the home of a residency by singer Mariah Carey.