A casino is a facility for certain types of

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertainment, such as stand-up comedy, concerts, and sports.

and usage

''Casino'' is of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

origin; the root means a house. The term ''casino'' may mean a small country

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

, summerhouse, or social club. During the 19th century, ''casino'' came to include other public buildings where pleasurable activities took place; such edifices were usually built on the grounds of a larger Italian villa or

palazzo A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

, and were used to host civic town functions, including dancing, gambling, music listening, and sports. Examples in Italy include

Villa Farnese The Villa Farnese, also known as Villa Caprarola, is a pentagonal mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Lazio, Italy, approximately north-west of Rome. This villa should not be confused with the Palazzo Farnese a ...

and

Villa Giulia The Villa Giulia is a villa in Rome, Italy. It was built by Pope Julius III in 1551–1553 on what was then the edge of the city. Today it is publicly owned, and houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. ...

, and in the US the

Newport Casino The Newport Casino is an athletic complex and recreation center located at 180-200 Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island in the Bellevue Avenue/Casino Historic District. Built in 1879–1881 by '' New York Herald'' publisher James Gordo ...

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and northeast of New Yor ...

. In modern-day Italian, a is a brothel (also called , literally "closed house"), a mess (confusing situation), or a noisy environment; a gaming house is spelt , with an accent. Not all casinos are used for gaming. The

Catalina Casino The Catalina Casino is a large gathering facility located in Avalon on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of Los Angeles in California. It is the largest building on the island and the most visible landmark in Avalon Bay when approaching the ...

, on Santa Catalina Island, California, has never been used for traditional games of chance, which were already outlawed in California by the time it was built. The

Copenhagen Casino The Casino Theatre was a theatre located at Amaliegade 10 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built as an entertainment venue by Tivoli Gardens-founder Georg Carstensen but was converted into a theatre in 1848. It closed in 1937 and the building was de ...

was a Danish theatre which also held public meetings during the

1848 Revolution The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

, which made Denmark a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

. In military and non-military usage, a (Spanish) or (German) is an officers' mess.

History of gambling houses

The precise origin of gambling is unknown. It is generally believed that gambling in some form or another has been seen in almost every society in history. From Ancient

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

and Romans to Napoleon's

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and Elizabethan

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, much of history is filled with stories of entertainment based on games of chance. The first known European gambling house, not called a casino although meeting the modern definition, was the Ridotto, established in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

, Italy, in 1638 by the

Great Council of Venice The Great Council or Major Council ( it, Maggior Consiglio; vec, Mazor Consegio) was a political organ of the Republic of Venice between 1172 and 1797. It was the chief political assembly, responsible for electing many of the other political off ...

to provide controlled gambling during the carnival season. It was closed in 1774 as the city government felt it was impoverishing the local gentry. In American history, early gambling establishments were known as

saloons Saloon may refer to: Buildings and businesses * One of the bars in a traditional British pub * An alternative name for a bar (establishment) * Western saloon, a historical style of American bar * The Saloon, a bar and music venue in San Francisc ...

. The creation and importance of saloons was greatly influenced by four major cities:

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. It was in the saloons that travelers could find people to talk to, drink with, and often gamble with. During the early 20th century in the US, gambling was outlawed by state legislation. However, in 1931, gambling was legalized throughout the state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, where the US's first legalized casinos were set up. In 1976

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

allowed gambling in Atlantic City, now the US's second largest gambling city.

Gambling in casinos

Most jurisdictions worldwide have a minimum

gambling age The gambling age is the minimum age at which one can legally gamble in a certain jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federat ...

of 18 to 21. Customers gamble by playing

games of chance A game of chance is in contrast with a game of skill. It is a game whose outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device. Common devices used include dice, spinning tops, playing cards, roulette wheels, or numbered balls drawn from ...

, in some cases with an element of skill, such as

craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...

, roulette,

baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...

, blackjack, and

video poker Video poker is a casino game based on five-card draw poker. It is played on a computerized console similar in size to a slot machine. History Video poker first became commercially viable when it became economical to combine a television-like mo ...

. Most games have mathematically determined

odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

that ensure the house has at all times an advantage over the players. This can be expressed more precisely by the notion of expected value, which is uniformly negative (from the player's perspective). This advantage is called the ''

house edge Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble cash or casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are also available in online casinos, whe ...

''. In games such as poker where players play against each other, the house takes a commission called the rake. Casinos sometimes give out complimentary items or comps to gamblers. ''Payout'' is the percentage of funds ("winnings") returned to players. Casinos in the United States say that a player staking money won from the casino is ''playing with the house's money''. Video Lottery Machines (

slot machine A slot machine (American English), fruit machine (British English) or poker machine (Australian English and New Zealand English) is a gambling machine that creates a game of chance for its customers. Slot machines are also known pejoratively a ...

s) have become one of the most popular forms of gambling in casinos. investigative reports have started calling into question whether the modern-day slot-machine is addictive.

Design

Casino design—regarded as a psychological exercise—is an intricate process that involves optimising floor plan, décor and atmospherics to encourage gambling. Factors influencing gambling tendencies include sound, odour and lighting. Natasha Dow Schüll, an anthropologist at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

, highlights the decision of the audio directors at Silicon Gaming to make its slot machines resonate in "the universally pleasant tone of C, sampling existing casino soundscapes to create a sound that would please but not clash". Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, studied the impact of certain scents on gamblers, discerning that a pleasant albeit unidentifiable odor released by

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

slot machines generated about 50% more in daily revenue. He suggested that the scent acted as an aphrodisiac, causing a more aggressive form of gambling.

Markets

The following lists major casino markets in the world with casino revenue of over US$1 billion as published in

PricewaterhouseCoopers PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounti ...

's report on the outlook for the global casino market:

By region

By markets

By company

According to

Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...

, accumulated revenue of the biggest casino operator companies worldwide amounted to almost US$55 billion in 2011. SJM Holdings Ltd. was the leading company in this field, earning $9.7 bn in 2011, followed by Las Vegas Sands Corp. at $7.4 bn. The third-biggest casino operator company (based on revenue) was Caesars Entertainment, with revenue of US$6.2 bn.

Significant sites

While there are casinos in many places, a few places have become well known specifically for gambling. Perhaps the place almost defined by its casino is Monte Carlo, but other places are known as gambling centers.

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Monte Carlo Casino, located in

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

city, in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, is a casino and a tourist attraction. Monte Carlo Casino has been depicted in many books, including

Ben Mezrich Ben Mezrich ( ; born February 7, 1969) is an American author. Early life and education Mezrich was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Molli Newman, a lawyer, and Reuben Mezrich, a chairman of radiology at the University of Maryland Scho ...

's ''

Busting Vegas ''Busting Vegas'' (stylized as ''Busting Vega$'') is a 2005 book by Ben Mezrich about a group of MIT card counters and blackjack players commonly known as the MIT Blackjack Team. The subtitle of the original, hardcover edition was ''The MIT ...

'', where a group of

students beat the casino out of nearly $1 million. This book is based on real people and events; however, many of those events are contested by main character

Semyon Dukach Semyon Dukach (born 25 October 1968) is a Russian-American entrepreneur and former professional blackjack player. He is the founding partner of One Way Ventures, a venture capital fund that backs immigrant entrepreneurs. He was the managing dir ...

. Monte Carlo Casino has also been featured in multiple

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novels and films. The casino is mentioned in the song " The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" as well as the film of the same name.

Campione d'Italia

Casinò di Campione is located in the tiny

enclave of

Campione d'Italia Campione d'Italia ( Comasco: , ) is a ''comune'' of the Province of Como in the Lombardy region of Italy and an enclave surrounded by the Swiss canton of Ticino (it is also an exclave). At its closest, the enclave is less than from the rest ...

, within

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

, Switzerland. The casino was founded in 1917 as a site to gather information from foreign diplomats during the First World War. Today it is owned by the Italian government, and operated by the municipality. With gambling laws being less strict than in Italy and Switzerland, it is among the most popular gambling destination besides Monte Carlo. The income from the casino is sufficient for the operation of Campione without the imposition of taxes, or obtaining of other revenue. In 2007, the casino moved into new premises of more than , making it the largest casino in Europe. The new casino was built alongside the old one, which dated from 1933 and has since been demolished.

Malta

The archipelago of

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

is a particularly famous place for casinos, standing out mainly with the historic casino located at the princely residence of

Dragonara Torremaggiore is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former seat of a bishopric, in the province of Foggia in the Apulia (in Italian: ''Puglia''), region of southeast Italy. It lies on a hill, over the sea, and is famous for production of win ...

. Dragonara Palace was built in 1870. Its name comes from the Dragonara Point, the peninsula where it is built. On 15 July 1964, the palace opened as a casino.

Macau

The former

Portuguese colony The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas colonies, factories, and the l ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...

, a

special administrative region of the People's Republic of China The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of the provincial-level administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State Co ...

since 1999, is a popular destination for visitors who wish to gamble. This started in Portuguese times, when Macau was popular with visitors from nearby

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

, where gambling was more closely regulated. The Venetian Macao is currently the largest casino in the world. Macau also surpassed Las Vegas as the largest gambling market in the world.

Germany

Machine-based gaming is only permitted in land-based casinos, restaurants, bars and gaming halls, and only subject to a licence. Online slots are, at the moment, only permitted if they are operated under a Schleswig-Holstein licence. AWPs are governed by federal law – the Trade Regulation Act and the Gaming Ordinance.

Portugal

The

Casino Estoril The Estoril Casino ( pt, Casino do Estoril) is a casino in the Portuguese Riviera, in the municipality of Cascais, Portugal. Today, it is one of the biggest working casinos in Europe. History The first stone was laid on 16 January 1916 by then-P ...

, located in the municipality of Cascais, on the

Portuguese Riviera The Portuguese Riviera (Portuguese: '' Riviera Portuguesa'') is a term used in the tourist industry for the affluent coastal region to the west of Lisbon, Portugal, centered on the coastal municipalities of Cascais (including Estoril), Oeiras ...

, near Lisbon, is the largest casino in Europe by capacity. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, it was reputed to be a gathering point for

spies Spies most commonly refers to people who engage in spying, espionage or clandestine operations. Spies or The Spies may also refer to: * Spies (surname), a German surname * Spies (band), a jazz fusion band * Spies (song), "Spies" (song), a song by ...

, dispossessed royals, and wartime adventurers; it became an inspiration for Ian Fleming's

James Bond 007 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

novel '' Casino Royale''.

Singapore

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

is an up-and-coming destination for visitors wanting to gamble, although there are currently only two casinos (both foreign owned), in Singapore. The Marina Bay Sands is the most expensive standalone casino in the world, at a price of US$8 billion, and is among the world's ten most expensive buildings. The Resorts World Sentosa has the world's largest

oceanarium An oceanarium can be either a marine mammal park, such as Marineland of Canada, or a large-scale aquarium, such as the Lisbon Oceanarium, presenting an ocean habitat with marine animals, especially large ocean dwellers such as sharks. First ma ...

Russia

There are 4 legal gaming zones in Russia: "Siberian Coin" (Altay), "Yantarnaya" (Kaliningrad region), "Azov-city" (Rostov region) and "Primorie" (Primorie region).

United States

Night aerial view, Las Vegas, Nevada, 04649u

With currently over 1,000 casinos, the United States has the largest number of casinos in the world. The number continues to grow steadily as more states seek to legalize casinos. 40 states now have some form of casino gambling. Interstate competition, such as gaining tourism, has been a driving factor to continuous legalization. Relatively small places such as

are best known for gambling; larger cities such as

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

are not defined by their casinos in spite of the large turnover. The

Las Vegas Valley The Las Vegas Valley is a major metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada, and the second largest in the Southwestern United States. The state's largest urban agglomeration, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Statistical Area i ...

has the largest concentration of casinos in the United States. Based on revenue, Atlantic City, New Jersey ranks second, and the Chicago region third. Top American casino markets by revenue (2022 annual revenues): #

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city ...

$7.05 billion # Atlantic City $2.57 billion # Chicago region $2.01 billion # Baltimore–Washington Metropolitan Area $2.00 billion #

Mississippi Gulf Coast The Mississippi Gulf Coast, also known as Mississippi Coast, Mississippi Gulf Coast region, Coastal Mississippi, and The Coast, is the area of Mississippi along the Mississippi Sound at the northern extreme of the Gulf of Mexico. Geography At th ...

$1.61 billion #

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

$1.46 billion #

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

$1.40 billion #

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

$1.29 billion #

$1.03 billion #

Boulder Strip The Boulder Strip gaming market is a division used by the Nevada Gaming Commission for a segment of the casino industry in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The region is named for the Boulder Highway which is the dominant highway in the region. Th ...

$967 million # Reno/Sparks $889 million # Kansas City $861 million #

The Poconos The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos , are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania. They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, W ...

$849 million #

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcas ...

$843 million # Black Hawk/Central City $812 million #

Downtown Las Vegas Downtown Las Vegas (commonly abbreviated as DTLV) is the central business district and historic center of Las Vegas, Nevada. It is the original townsite, and the Downtown gaming area was the primary gambling district of Las Vegas prior to the S ...

$731 million # Tunica/Lula $696 million #

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

$655 million # Shreveport/Bossier City $646 million #

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

/ Meadowlands $630 million The

Nevada Gaming Control Board The Nevada Gaming Control Board, also known as the State Gaming Control Board, is a Nevada state governmental agency involved in the regulation of gaming and law enforcement of Nevada gaming laws throughout the state, along with the Nevada Gaming ...

divides Clark County, which is coextensive with the Las Vegas metropolitan area, into seven market regions for reporting purposes.

Native American gaming Native American gaming comprises casinos, bingo halls, and other gambling operations on Indian reservations or other tribal lands in the United States. Because these areas have tribal sovereignty, states have limited ability to forbid gambling ...

has been responsible for a rise in the number of casinos outside of Las Vegas and Atlantic City.

Security

Given the large amounts of currency handled within a casino, both patrons and staff may be tempted to cheat and steal, in collusion or independently; most casinos have security measures to prevent this.

Security camera A closed-circuit television camera can produce images or recordings for surveillance or other private purposes. Cameras can be either video cameras, or digital stills cameras. Walter Bruch was the inventor of the CCTV camera. The main purpose o ...

s located throughout the casino are the most basic measure. Modern casino security is usually divided between a physical security force and a specialized surveillance department. The physical security force usually patrols the casino and responds to calls for assistance and reports of suspicious or definite criminal activity. A specialized surveillance department operates the casino's closed circuit television system, known in the industry as the eye in the sky. Both of these specialized casino security departments work very closely with each other to ensure the safety of both guests and the casino's assets, and have been quite successful in preventing crime. Some casinos also have catwalks in the ceiling above the casino floor, which allow surveillance personnel to look directly down, through one way glass, on the activities at the tables and slot machines. When it opened in 1989,

The Mirage The Mirage is a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by Hard Rock International. The 65-acre property includes a casino and 3,044 rooms. Golden Nugget, Inc., le ...

was the first casino to use cameras full-time on all table games. In addition to cameras and other technological measures, casinos also enforce security through rules of conduct and behavior; for example, players at card games are required to keep the cards they are holding in their hands visible at all times.

Business practices

Over the past few decades, casinos have developed many different marketing techniques for attracting and maintaining loyal patrons. Many casinos use a loyalty rewards program used to track players' spending habits and target their patrons more effectively, by sending mailings with free slot play and other promotions. Casino Helsinki in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

, Finland, for example, donates all of its profits to charity.

Crime

Casinos have been linked to

organised crime Organized crime (or organised crime) is a category of transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally th ...

, with early casinos in Las Vegas originally dominated by the American Mafia and in Macau by

Triad syndicate A triad ( zh , t=三合會 , s=三合会 , cy=sāam hahp wúi , j=saam1 hap6 wui6‑2 , hp=sān hé huì , first=t,j ) is a Chinese transnational organized crime syndicate based in Greater China and has outposts in various countries with signific ...

s. According to some police reports, local incidence of reported crime often doubles or triples within three years of a casino's opening. In a 2004 report by the US Department of Justice, researchers interviewed people who had been arrested in Las Vegas and Des Moines and found that the percentage of problem or pathological gamblers among the arrestees was three to five times higher than in the general population. It has been said that economic studies showing a positive relationship between casinos and crime usually fail to consider the visiting population: they count crimes committed by visitors but do not count visitors in the population measure, which overstates the crime rate. Part of the reason this methodology is used, despite the overstatement, is that reliable data on tourist count are often not available.

Occupational health and safety

There are unique occupational health issues in the casino industry. The most common are from cancers resulting from exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke and musculoskeletal injury (MSI) from repetitive motion injuries while running table games over many hours.

Gallery

File:Casinò di Campione, night.jpg, Italy's Casinò di Campione, near

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

, is the largest casino in Europe File:Leicester Square, London.jpg, The

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

at Leicester Square in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

also includes a casino File:Casino at RWS.jpg, Entrance to the casino at Resorts World Sentosa,

File:Galaxy Macau Night.jpg, The

Galaxy Macau Galaxy Macau (, Portuguese: Galáxia Macau) is a casino resort located in Cotai, Macau, SAR of People's Republic of China. Construction on the Cotai project began in 2002. Its opening was rescheduled several times. Its developer, Galaxy Ente ...

at night in

Cotai Cotai (; pt, Zona do Aterro de Cotai) is a piece of newly reclaimed land on top of Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has made two independent islands become one island, since 2005. The word (a portmanteau of Coloan ...

, Macau File:Wynn 2 (2).jpg,

Wynn Las Vegas Wynn Las Vegas, often simply referred to as Wynn, is a luxury resort and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by Wynn Resorts, and was built on the former site of the Desert Inn resor ...

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

, United States File:Casino-Funchal.jpg, The Casino da Madeira in

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...

, Madeira,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

File:Mikonkatu 19.jpg, The Casino Helsinki at night in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

File:Marina Bay Sands in the evening - 20101120.jpg, View of the Marina Bay Sands in Marina Bay,

File:Genting 01.jpg, The casino in

Genting Highlands Genting Highlands is a hill station located on the peak of Mount Ulu Kali in the Titiwangsa Mountains, central Peninsular Malaysia, at 1,800 metres elevation. Located in the state of Pahang. It was established in 1965 by the late Chinese busines ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

own by

Genting Group The Genting Group is a company headquartered in the Wisma Genting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It comprises the holding company Genting Berhad (), its listed subsidiaries Genting Malaysia Berhad (), Genting Plantations Berhad (), Genting Singapore ...

File:The venetian macao outside night.jpg,

The Venetian Macau The Venetian Macao () is a hotel and casino resort in Macau owned by the American Las Vegas Sands company. The 39-story structure on Macau's Cotai Strip has of floor space, and is modeled on its sister casino resort The Venetian Las Vegas. It ...

in the Cotai Strip is the largest casino in the world, owned by Las Vegas Sands File:Casino de Monte-Carlo.jpg, View of the Monte Carlo Casino, Monaco File:MGM COTAI Macau.jpg,

MGM Cotai MGM Cotai is a casino resort in Cotai, Macau, China that opened on the 13th of February in 2018. It is owned by MGM Resorts International. MGM Cotai is its second property in Macau, the first being the MGM Macau. The hotel consists of 1,390 room ...

owned by MGM Resorts International, located in Cotai, Macau File:Borgata_Slots,_Atlantic_City,_Feb_2016.jpg, Slot machines at the

Borgata Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is a hotel, casino, and spa in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It is owned by Vici Properties and operated by MGM Resorts International. The casino hotel features 2,798 rooms and is the largest hotel in New Jersey. Borga ...

Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City,

, United States

References

External links

* {{Authority control Gambling

and usage

History of gambling houses

Gambling in casinos

Design

Markets

By region

By markets

By company

Significant sites

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Campione d'Italia

Malta

Macau

Germany

Portugal

Singapore

Russia

United States

Security

Business practices

Crime

Occupational health and safety

Gallery

See also

References

External links