A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often combined with hotels, restaurants, retail shops or cruise ships. Some casinos are devoted to specific games such as blackjack or poker, while others feature a wide variety of games. In the United States, the term casino also refers to a gaming establishment operated by an Indian tribe.
In general, all casinos make money by accepting bets from patrons. The profits from these bets are based on the mathematically determined expected value of each game, which is known as the house edge. To calculate the house edge, casinos employ mathematicians specializing in gaming analysis. In order to prevent cheating, casinos monitor game results and are able to quickly discover any anomaly in the expected outcomes.
The modern casino is a large, noisy place where security is a top priority. Casinos are often protected by a combination of physical security forces and specialized surveillance departments. The surveillance department monitors the movement of people within the facility and its perimeter, using closed circuit television systems and cameras hidden in ceilings and walls.
Many casino games involve a degree of skill, but the majority are purely chance. Those that involve luck, such as slot machines and card games, are the most popular with gamblers. Surveys indicate that almost 90% of casino gamblers prefer these games, while less popular games such as keno, bingo and sports/racing betting draw only 6% of the population.