Located all over the world, casinos offer more than just games of chance. Musical shows, lighted fountains, lavish hotels and elaborate themes help draw in the crowds. But the billions in profits casinos rake in every year come from games like blackjack, roulette, slot machines and craps.
Something about gambling (perhaps the presence of large amounts of money) encourages people to cheat, steal and scam their way into a jackpot, which is why casinos spend so much time, effort and money on security. Cameras in the ceiling provide a high-tech “eye-in-the-sky” that allow surveillance personnel to watch every table, window and doorway simultaneously. In addition, casino employees are trained to look for patterns in behavior and betting that could signal cheating.
Slot machines are the economic backbone of most American casinos, providing a larger percentage of the overall revenue than any other game. The gambler inserts money or paper tickets with barcodes into the machine, and a random number generator determines if any of the bands of colored shapes that roll on reels — either physical reels or video representations of them — match up. The player then wins a predetermined amount of money. Despite their relative simplicity, many people consider them to be the most difficult of all casino games to master.