Whether you like to hit the slots, place your bets on the roulette wheel or put on your best poker face at a card table, casinos are the best way to satisfy that gambling urge. Most offer more than just gambling, with swank hotels, gourmet restaurants and a host of other amenities.
While musical shows, lighted fountains, lavish hotels and shopping centers all help draw people to casinos, the billions of dollars in profits raked in by casino owners are largely thanks to games of chance such as blackjack, roulette, craps and slot machines. However, most games have a built in statistical advantage for the casino, a percentage of every bet that is known as the house edge.
Casinos make the most money from gamblers who bet large amounts of money. In order to reward them, they give comps ranging from free hotel rooms and dinners to tickets for shows and limo service or even airline tickets depending on the amount of time and money spent at the tables.
While there are no hard figures on the number of people who visit casinos worldwide, about 51 million people—a quarter of all Americans over 21—visited a casino in 2002. From the glitzy strip in Las Vegas to illegal pai gow parlors in New York City, casinos are everywhere. Some are more elaborate than others, but all of them operate on the same basic principles. Read on to learn more about the history of casinos, popular casino games and how they make money.