A casino is a place where people can gamble and play games of chance. While musical shows, lighted fountains, shopping centers and lavish hotels help draw people to casinos, they would not exist without the billions in profits raked in by games like slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat and poker.
Security at a casino starts on the floor, where casino employees watch over patrons and games to make sure everything is as it should be. Dealers are heavily focused on their game and can easily spot blatant cheating, such as palming or marking cards. Table managers and pit bosses have a broader view of the tables and can keep an eye out for betting patterns that could indicate cheating. In addition, casino surveillance staff use cameras to monitor the entire casino from a control room filled with banks of security monitors.
Slot machines are the most popular games at casinos and generate the largest share of the profits, with players simply placing a coin or paper ticket into a machine, pulling a handle or pushing a button and waiting for a random sequence to appear on screen. Traditionally, the machines have reels of colored shapes that roll past but in modern times these are often replaced by video screens and are controlled by computer chips instead of mechanical ones. Casinos also offer a variety of other gambling games including keno, baccarat and poker, which are played regularly at many American casinos.