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What is a Casino?

Casino

Casino is a place where people play games of chance for money. These games include blackjack, roulette, poker and slot machines. Successful casinos draw billions of dollars in profits each year for the owners, investors and Native American tribes that operate them. Casinos offer many forms of entertainment besides gambling, including stage shows and restaurants. They also boost local employment and property values.

The precise origins of gambling are unknown, but it is clear that the casino as we know it developed around the 16th century, during a period when a gambling craze swept Europe and Italian nobles would gather in private clubs known as ridotti to gamble and socialize. These were often illegal, but the gamblers rarely found themselves in trouble with the law.

Casinos are designed to stimulate the senses, with bright and sometimes gaudy floor and wall coverings, throbbing music and flashing lights. The colors red and green are especially stimulating and are used throughout the casino to encourage patrons to lose track of time. Casinos often have no clocks on their walls and do not allow players to look at them, because they want their guests to forget that there is even a concept of time in a casino.

In addition to the flashy lights, music and decorations, casinos focus on customer service. They reward loyal patrons with perks called comps, which can be free hotel rooms, meals, tickets to shows or even airline tickets and limousine service for big spenders. Most casinos use a card that is swiped before a player can play and which tracks the amount of money he or she spends on various games. This information is compiled to determine the average amount of money spent per hour by each patron, which allows for accurate marketing and security purposes.