What Is a Casino?
A casino, according to Merriam Webster’s definition, is “a building or room used for social amusements, specifically gambling.” Most Americans think of a Las Vegas-style megaresort, gleaming with neon lights and fun, when they hear the word casino. But the reality is much broader. In fact, there are hundreds of casinos in the United States, from small businesses defined more by types of gambling than by glitz and glamour to those that are truly grand temples of temptation.
These gambling palaces have been designed around the senses of sight, sound and touch. They use bright lights and color to entice visitors, and the sounds of ringing bells, clanging coins, and yelling players are designed to excite patrons. Casinos also provide a wide variety of foods and drinks, from cheap snacks to gourmet entrees, to keep gamblers happy. In addition, a number of casino games have been developed with built-in psychological triggers to stimulate a player’s desire to gamble.
Gambling has been part of human culture for centuries. In Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, Rome, and Elizabethan England, people used to wager on races and events. In the United States, however, the growth of the industry was stifled by state laws until New Jersey permitted casinos in 1978.
After that, a wave of legislation swept the country and more than twenty-eight states now allow commercial casinos. Some are operated by Native American tribes, and others are racetrack casinos, called racinos, that feature slot machines as well as horse racing.
As a result of their legality, casinos are able to offer a wide range of inducements to lure and retain big bettors. These include free spectacular entertainment, luxury accommodations, transportation and a host of other perks. Many casinos even employ mathematicians and computer programmers who study the mathematical expectancy and variance of various casino games in order to determine their house edge, or how much a casino can expect to make on any given game.
The casino business is a highly competitive and constantly evolving industry. In 2004 alone, thirty-five new casinos opened, while nineteen casinos closed their doors. To survive, casinos must continually seek ways to attract and retain customers, while ensuring that the money they accept is not squandered or stolen. As a result, they spend millions of dollars each year on studies and surveys to understand what makes a gambling experience successful or unsuccessful. The results of these efforts are applied to every aspect of a casino’s design, from the color of the floor to the music pumped through the speakers. If a casino can create the right gambling atmosphere, it will have an advantage over its competitors. This advantage can be the difference between winning and losing. And if winning, the chance for bigger and better prizes is always a welcome prospect. As a result, casino gambling has become a national pastime. More than seventy percent of Americans report that they visit a casino at least once per month.
