A casino is a place where people wager money on various games of chance or skill. The word casino comes from the Latin ca
While most of the world’s casinos specialize in gambling, a few offer other activities as well. These may include a sports book, stage shows, or other forms of live entertainment. Casinos have also been known to host celebrities and athletes for special events.
The casino industry has a long history of organized crime involvement. In Nevada, gangsters provided the capital to establish casinos in Reno and Las Vegas, then used them as cash cows for their illegal operations. Mobster money made casinos profitable and helped them avoid government crackdowns, but the mobsters wanted more control than just the bankroll. They became full or partial owners of some casinos and tampered with game results.
Today, casino security is much more sophisticated. A high-tech eye-in-the-sky surveillance system watches every table, window, and doorway with cameras that can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons. The cameras are linked to a room filled with banks of security monitors that can be viewed by personnel. In addition, casino dealers follow certain patterns in how they deal cards and react to players’ actions, making it easier for security staff to detect cheating.
