A casino is a public building where people can gamble and play games of chance. Musical shows, lighted fountains and elaborate themes are all part of the modern casino experience but casinos would not exist without games of chance that give patrons the opportunity to win or lose large sums of money. Casino games include slot machines, roulette, blackjack and baccarat. Other popular games in a casino may include poker, craps, keno and baccarat.
A major concern of casino operators is cheating by patrons and staff members. Casinos take numerous precautions to prevent this, including security cameras that monitor the entire casino floor. These are usually located in key areas and can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons by security workers operating a separate room filled with banks of secure monitors. Some casinos even have high-tech “eye-in-the-sky” surveillance systems that allow the casino to observe the entire gambling floor in a sort of real-time matrix.
In addition to security, a casino’s marketing strategy is designed around attracting and rewarding its most important customers. These are known as comps, and they can range from free hotel rooms and meals to show tickets and limo service. During the 1970s, Las Vegas casinos gave away a lot of these freebies to attract the maximum number of gamblers possible in an effort to increase overall casino revenue.
In recent years, however, the casino industry has become choosier about which patrons to reward with comps. It’s more common for casinos to focus their rewards on high-stakes players, who are considered to be the most profitable casino patrons. These patrons often gamble in special rooms that are off the main casino floor, and they can bet tens of thousands of dollars per hand of blackjack or baccarat.