What Is a Casino?
A casino, or gambling house, is a place where people can gamble and take part in entertainment activities. Some casinos are stand-alone facilities while others are built within or combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops or cruise ships. They may also offer live entertainment such as musical performances or stand-up comedy. Casinos also offer a wide range of games, including table games such as blackjack, roulette, and baccarat, as well as video poker and slot machines.
Because of the large amounts of money handled within a casino, both patrons and employees may be tempted to cheat or steal, in collusion or independently. To mitigate this risk, most casinos use one or more forms of security. These measures range from cameras to complex computer systems that monitor and track all activities in the casino.
Some casino games have a skill element and allow players to eliminate the inherent long-term disadvantage (known as the house edge or vigorish) by using strategies that improve their chances of winning. This kind of player is known as an advantage player. Casinos employ mathematically inclined people called gaming mathematicians to design these strategies and to keep track of the results. This information helps casinos to calculate their expected revenue and to maintain a reasonable amount of cash in reserve to cover bad bets. Casinos use these calculations to make decisions about the number of tables to open and what games to offer, as well as to determine how much vigorish to charge on each bet.