A casino, also called a gambling hall or simply a gaming establishment, is a place where people play games of chance and sometimes with skill. The games are usually supervised by an employee or employees. The most common casino games are roulette, blackjack, poker, craps, and baccarat. Some casinos also have far Eastern games like sic bo, fan-tan, and pai gow.
The main way a casino makes money is by charging bettors a small percentage of their total winnings. This is known as the house edge and it is uniformly negative from the player’s perspective. The house edge is higher in games with skill than in games of pure chance, but even a very small advantage can earn the casino significant profits over time. Casinos may also generate revenue by offering complimentary items to players, a practice known as comping.
Security is another important element of a casino. Besides the obvious cameras, most casinos have a high-tech eye-in-the-sky system that allows security personnel to watch every table, window, and doorway. Security workers can adjust the camera focus to watch for suspicious patrons, and a large room filled with banks of video monitors is able to keep track of everything going on in the casino.
In addition to cameras, casinos enforce security through rules of conduct and behavior. For example, casino patrons are expected to keep their cards visible at all times and to make all betting actions clearly visible. This ensures that dealers are not stealing or cheating, and that players are not using hidden devices to cheat.