Gambling casinos are massive mega-resorts that offer hotel rooms, restaurants, non-gambling game rooms, bars, swimming pools, spas and a mindblowing number of casino games. In the United States alone, they generate billions of dollars in profits every year. They are often built with impressive size and beautiful decor to attract customers.
Although gambling probably predates recorded history, the casino as a place where a variety of ways to gamble are found under one roof did not develop until the 16th century, when a gambling craze swept Europe and Italian aristocrats created private clubs called ridotti where they could gamble legally in privacy. [1]
Casinos make money by offering games that have a mathematical advantage for the house, which is calculated as the expected value of the bet over time. This advantage can be low (less than two percent) but over millions of bets it is enough to earn the casino billions in gross revenue. Casinos also collect a percentage of bets on certain games, such as poker and blackjack, where the players compete against each other, by charging a fee for each hand dealt or each card beaten, called the rake.
Casinos have elaborate security systems to prevent cheating. For example, when dealers leave a table they clear their hands by clapping them together, spreading their fingers and turning their palms up to reveal they have no chips in their pockets. Cameras in the ceiling track each and every table, window and doorway; they can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons.