What Is a Casino?

Casino, the 1995 movie starring Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci as mob-affiliated gamblers, is one of cinema’s most enduringly fascinating studies in modern crime. The film follows Sam “Ace” Rothstein (De Niro) and Nicky Santoro (Pesci), two Chicago Outfit associates who run the Tangiers Casino in Las Vegas. Casino explores the rigors of operating a casino, the mob’s involvement with the business, and Ace’s decline as his relationships and standing collapse and Las Vegas evolves into a family-friendly theme park.

A Casino is a building that house gambling activities, including slot machines, blackjack, roulette, craps, and keno. Today, many casinos offer a wide variety of other entertainment options as well. However, the primary goal of a casino remains gambling. The more money a patron wagers, the more profit a casino makes.

To help keep their profits up, casinos offer big bettors extravagant inducements. These may include free spectacular entertainment, private transportation, elegant living quarters, and even reduced-fare transportation to and from the airport. Casinos also use technology to monitor and supervise the games themselves. For example, chip tracking allows managers to oversee the exact amounts wagered minute by minute and quickly discover any anomalies; roulette wheels are monitored electronically to discover any deviations from their expected results.

Ultimately, the goal of a casino is to make its patrons happy. This is important because a patron who is unhappy with the experience or believes they have been treated unfairly will not return. This is why casino designers focus on making the experience fun and entertaining.