A casino is a place where gambling is the main activity. While musical shows, lighted fountains and elaborate hotels help attract customers, casinos wouldn’t exist without games of chance such as slot machines, blackjack, roulette and craps that give them billions in profits every year.
Something about casinos seems to encourage people to cheat, steal and scam their way into a jackpot. That’s why casinos spend a lot of time, money and effort on security. Casinos use high-tech surveillance systems that provide a high-definition “eye in the sky” that allows security personnel to watch every table, window and doorway at the same time. These surveillance cameras are controlled by security workers in a room filled with banks of security monitors that can be adjusted to focus on suspicious patrons.
In addition, there’s a more subtle aspect of casino security. The routines of casino games, how dealers shuffle and deal cards, the locations of betting spots on the tables and the expected reactions of players follow certain patterns. If anything deviates from those patterns, security staff will be quick to spot it.
In the past, mob control of casinos was commonplace, but real estate investors and hotel chains with deep pockets bought out the mafia. Federal crackdowns and the fear of losing a gaming license at the slightest hint of mob involvement keep the mob away from casinos these days.