From the glittering mega-resorts of Las Vegas to the clandestine pai gow parlors of New York’s Chinatown, casinos are places where people pay to gamble. While musical shows, lighted fountains and top-notch hotels draw visitors, the majority of casino profits come from gambling games that involve some element of chance and a little skill. These games include blackjack, roulette, poker, baccarat and slot machines as well as craps and keno. They provide the billions of dollars in revenues that casinos generate each year for themselves, their owners and investors, and state and local governments.
Something about casinos (probably the fact that they deal with large amounts of money) seems to encourage cheating and stealing, either in collusion or independently. As a result, casinos spend enormous sums on security.
Successful casinos are a big business, generating billions in revenue each year for the companies that own them, investors, and Native American tribes as well as state and local governments. They also employ thousands of people. In 2005, the average casino patron was a forty-six-year-old female from a household with an above-average income. She had some college experience and often used her vacation time to visit casinos. She spent about two hours in the casino each visit and had a net win of less than $500. The most popular games were slots and video poker. In addition to these, Asian casinos offer a variety of traditional Far Eastern games such as sic bo, fan-tan and pai gow.