A casino is a facility where gambling activities like poker, blackjack and slot machines take place. These venues are often found in tourist destinations or near hotels. Some offer entertainment, dining and shopping opportunities as well. Casinos earn money by charging patrons a commission, or a rake, on bets placed at their tables and wheels. In addition, they make money by selling comps to their highest spending customers. These can include free hotel rooms, meals, tickets to shows and even limo service. The United States has the world’s largest concentration of casinos, and Las Vegas is home to the most famous ones.
Table games are a category of casino games that involve playing on a flat surface with board and card games, dice or tile-based games and electronic game machines. They typically require strategic thinking and decision-making skills, as players compete against the house or other players in the game. The best known table games are poker, blackjack and roulette. Some table games are fully automated, with a machine running the action and accepting bets through push buttons. Others are semi-automated and operated by a dealer or croupier.
Despite their popularity and socialising potential, table games are inherently risky, as gamblers can be tempted to cheat or steal, either in collusion with staff members or on their own. As such, casinos use extensive security measures to prevent this from happening. Some examples are a high-tech “eye in the sky” system where cameras monitor every table, change window and doorway, or fully automated and closed-circuit systems, which allow casinos to supervise their games remotely.