A casino is a place where people can gamble and play games of chance. Some casinos offer other amenities such as restaurants, free drinks and stage shows. But a casino’s basic purpose is to give patrons an experience that is exciting and fun.
In order to keep gamblers coming back, casinos create an environment that is noisy and bright and uses color to stimulate excitement. They also use designs that make it easy to lose track of time. For example, many casinos avoid using clocks because they want patrons to lose track of how much time has passed while gambling. Often the casino’s interior design is designed around noise, light and excitement, with lavish carpeting and richly tiled hallways that evoke images of luxury and wealth.
Something about gambling (maybe the presence of large amounts of money) seems to encourage people to cheat and steal, either in collusion or independently; that’s why most casinos spend a significant amount of time and money on security. Security at a casino is usually divided between a physical security force and a specialized surveillance department. Physical security patrols the casino and responds to calls for assistance or reports of suspicious or definite criminal activity; the surveillance department monitors the entire facility through closed circuit television.
Casinos also try to maximize their profits by giving big bettors extravagant inducements. These can include free spectacular entertainment, transportation and elegant living quarters. In addition, casinos rely on mathematical expectancies to earn the small margins that they generate from each game. The expected profit is based on the probability that a particular player will win and the house’s percentage edge over the total number of bets placed on the games.