A casino, or gaming house, is a gambling establishment where customers gamble money or chips on various games of chance or skill. Some casinos also offer dining, entertainment, and top-notch hotels.
Generally, most casino games have mathematically determined odds that ensure the house always has an advantage over players. This advantage is known as the house edge and varies from game to game. The house edge can be reduced through the use of certain techniques, such as card counting or a knowledge of probability theory. In games where players compete against each other, such as poker, the casino makes its profit through a commission, or rake, taken from each pot.
In 2005, Harrah’s Entertainment surveyed 2,000 adults and found that the typical casino gambler is a forty-six-year-old woman from a family with above-average income. These types of people tend to have more vacation time and available spending money than younger adults, who are less likely to visit casinos.
Given the large amounts of money handled by casino patrons and employees, casinos employ a variety of security measures. These include video cameras and computers to monitor the games for cheating or stealing. In addition, some casinos have special systems for checking the accuracy of the spin of a roulette wheel or the roll of a dice, and others monitor the behavior of gamblers to detect abnormal patterns.